Adventures in Clown Land – a new book by Neil Hague
The world has become a circus show, a ‘Clown Land’ extraordinaire; but one artist is on a mission to make sense of the daily bulletins and political ‘sound bytes’ seen all over our TVs in every country since March 2020. If you thought you had woken up in a dystopian movie called ‘Covid-19’, then you are not alone! This book is for you! It will help you see clearly, over the top of your face mask and beyond the bizarre landscape we currently dwell.
In a concise satirical book of concepts, illustrator Neil Hague offers an alternative perspective to the coronavirus pandemic. With humour and insight, he visually explains the geopolitical narrative in response to Dr. Covid’s arrival on earth. Through his celebrated style of image-making, we see the ‘rules’ and science being followed, in a world possessed by all things Covid, for what they truly are – ‘freedom destroying tomfoolery’!
The book introduces us to a myriad of characters, like ‘False Positive’, ‘Build Back Better’, ‘Dr. Mass Hypnosis’, the ‘Branch Covidians’, ‘Florence Nightmaregale’ and the ‘Gates of Hell’, to name just a few.
Armed with a metre rule, calendar, clock and a calculator, Dr. Covid won’t rest until ‘everyone’ receives the ‘mark of a man’ (the jab) and gets their vaccine pass to a ‘New Normal’ – the ‘New World Order’.
As an author-illustrator I have spent the past year contemplating the madness of our world. Everything changed from March 2020. Life got steadily ‘crazier’ in response to the emergence of ‘Covid’, and as a creative spirit, my response was to enter into my sacred space and use all the creative tools at my disposal. I ventured into the world of character design and narrative imagery, an area of sanctuary for what seemed like a circus ‘out there’, across the high streets, parks and cities of the world.
People seemed to suspend all critical thinking, often replacing research and ‘consciousness awareness’ with ‘knee jerk reactions’ and ‘programmed responses’ to the daily news bulletins and political mouthpieces appearing on our TVs. Waking up on March 23rd 2020 was like waking up in a dystopian movie, a film that had no clear script, or no clear ending within its plot – it became Clown Land the movie. We were put into ‘lockdown’ so to initially ‘flatten the curve’, and over a year on, ‘3 lockdowns later’, we are a very different species on the surface.
To compensate for the seriousness of the ‘pandemic’, I started to ‘character create’ the so-called ‘science’ and ‘figures’ being ‘followed’ by the political establishment. I introduced Dr. Covid to the world in September 2020. A figure who dominates the narrative throughout this little book, which is a satirical pastiche and a ‘caricature’ of life in ‘Covid times’. Despite the irreversible damage done to the mental health and livelihoods of nations (innocent people) affected by policies and responses to the ‘pandemic’ (driven by those in positions of power), we, as a human race, are strong and will turn the tide on this dystopian movie-like reality.
To pre order your copy of this little book of unique work – Click here