Dingo Dizmal and Olive Rootbeer are well known clowns about town. Together, they collaborate in performance as well as in paint and have shared tunes, stories, comedy, bike rides, face painting, balloon twisting and public story time with Portland since 2011. These are a couple of recent paintings in their Rubber Chicken series.Â
“I used to run the Alberta Street Clown House,” wrote Dingo. “I started painting the Rubber Chickens there as something to do with my hands after quitting drinking and was shocked when people started buying them.Â
“After that ended in 2007, I took off on my tallbike and started anew in SE Portland. I met Olive Rootbeer and she added a fine art element. I write the funny and then she either remakes some of my paintings or comes up with her own. We weren’t going to have rent, but the chicken paintings saved us this year.”Â
Olive and Dingo have supported small businesses, cycling events and the local parades. “We were on the show Portlandia several times and there is even a bus stop with our mural in SE.”
“Now that Christmas is over, we are going to switch gears and restart our 10 year gig as busking kid performer clowns. We do a rocknroll storytime that was very popular and are going to livestream our show. It’s interesting having to reinvent ourselves a lot and those Rubber Chicken paintings keep our oars in the water during transitions.
“I’m honored that Portland has allowed me to be a burlesque clown, an activist and a kid’s clown for over 20 years. We will have our work cut out for us when COVID blows over and I can’t wait to help rebuild everything.”
See oliveanddingo.com for contact, pics and antics.