EXTREMO THE CLOWN: Scot Campbell

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Tue, 08/22/2017 - 11:30am to 12:00pm
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Eric Bartels talks to Scot Campbell. He was once known as Extremo the Clown, an offbeat character who ran for mayor and whose best-known vehicles for self-promotion were absurdly overdecorated cars covered in weird art and pop culture artifacts. But he's also a talented artist and "splash painter" whose work has adorned local storefronts for decades. He says the long tradition of hand-painted commercial art, threatened by technology, is making a comeback.

from the Porland Mercury June 2002:

"THE CLOWN INSIDE MY HEAD

You know who I'm talking about. You've seen him driving around town and wondered who the hell that was. Now I can tell you, his name is Extremo.

Of course, that doesn't really answer the question of who he is. But it's a complicated question. For now, let's just say Extremo wasn't always like this, and even today, when his adrenal gland calms down, Portland's most flamboyant citizen removes his nose and face paint and resumes life as a sign painter named Scot Campbell. Campbell, who lives in the same head as Extremo (and also near Gresham) isn't even sure quite where Extremo came from.

But it must have been a decade ago when the clown first became a glimmer in Campbell's mind. Somewhere, sometime, Campbell bought a clown nose, put in on, and started feeling giddy. There was an odd rattle that welled up in his chest, slowly forming into a huge, raucous laugh.

On that day, whenever it was, Extremo was born.

At the time, Campbell put his nose away and went back to painting signs and putting odd bits of art on his car. But now and then, he was drawn back to the nose. And each time he put it on, Extremo came back a little stronger. More and more often, Campbell found himself in face paint and suspenders with that same giddy grin.

Over the years, Extremo took on a more definite shape, and took up a bigger chunk of Campbell's life. Then in 1996, the clown won a $10,000 prize in the "I exposed 94.7 NRK," contest. On that day, Extremo finally earned his keep. But still, he kept coming back for free, and the place he seemed to like best was in Campbell's car, which was encased in art. In fact, he liked it so much, he claimed it for his own.

"When I get in the car," Campbell says, "he just comes alive. He actually takes over." The Mazda is Extremo's own world. Sometimes, he just drives around, laughing, singing, and playing with his puppets for hours, with no idea what time it is. Time and everything else slips away.

So that's who you see driving the weird car through streets of Portland--Extremo the Clown, mad as a hatter, leaving behind him a froth of emotions: pity, rage, laughter, confusion, and even hope, which is what he wants.

Extremo just wants you to feel something, he says, whether you like it or not."

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