‘Someone came in and said it looked like a child psychologist’s nightmare’

With a hoop earring and a dirty laugh, he’s instantly recognisable as Bristol’s most raucous ringmaster and leader of the Invisible Circus.  But in person, Doug Francisco is far more of an observer than the showboating character he portrays with the greasepaint on.

It’s this quieter side of his nature that he’s keen to get across in an eclectic exhibition of his work, titled Lost and Found, which is on until Saturday, December 2 at SPACE Gallery in Old Market.

“Everyone knows me as the ringmaster, and that is me, but it’s also a mask,” Doug says, hands folded, sitting surrounded by his works. “I’ve had a lot of confidence as that character, but now it’s about taking that costume off and revealing what’s behind the mask. It’s uncomfortable, but with the journey I’ve been on, it’s quite empowering, terrifying but liberating.”

One of Doug’s moulded works

The journey Doug alludes to is written in the works he has created. He gestures to a piece featuring a set of doll heads on a rusty background, empty eye sockets dark against dirty, dishevelled faces. “I started therapy about a year ago. This one is before the therapy, and it’s pretty dark, pretty macabre. Without intending to, my output changed during that time.”

He turns to another piece on the same table: this time, the doll’s head is rosy, with blue eyes staring pliantly from a golden backboard with a motif like sunbeams.

“When I started performing in Bristol, I found it so weird that people would recognise me and come up to me all the time. I wouldn’t know if they were an old friend I’d not seen for years, or someone I’d never met before. It got to the point that I didn’t want to go out that much,” Doug says.

“But I’ve come to see it as a really positive, really great thing. I’m not hiding or intimidated. I’m appreciative of the impact our work has had on the lives of others, and, really, it’s an honour to hear that something Invisible Circus or Artspace Lifespace did inspired someone to leave their nine-to-five and become an artist or a performer.”

Several of his pieces, including one in tribute to his grandmother

The works in this exhibition have all been created from things Doug has picked up and collected over the years, “the stuff you think you’ll do something with one day” as he puts it. “It’s old props from former shows, things I’ve found in skips and bins and flea markets. Lots are things that were left behind from our time in spaces like the Pro Cathedral. Bits and pieces and shiny things that I collected up.”

One large piece features the silver mask he wore when first starting out as a performer in 1992, busking around Spain; another reflects the box of broken jewellery he used to play with at his grandma’s house each weekend and is made in tribute to her.

The silver mask in this piece is a prop from Doug’s first show

It’s the first time Doug has exhibited the works publicly – the first time they’ve been outside his workshop – and the reception has been very positive so far. “It’s a cathartic process, making and sharing these works,” he continues.

Showing his work, and the new outlook he has on life, has had an effect on Doug’s other artistic outputs. “I’ve been reignited through the process, and re-engaged,” he says. “I’m less driven by the commercial opportunities – although, of course, you have to take them when you’re finding work for your company – but I’ve had an epiphany of taking things back to their essence. Money wasn’t the driving force when I entered into all of this: it’s not why I started taking over streets or buildings.”

It is testament to this desire to make and express himself in his art that Doug is not selling any of his works – just prints of images of them. The originals will now go to his venue underneath Temple Meads, The Loco Klub, to be installed permanently in the upstairs bars. “It fits the feel of the place,” Doug says, looking into the room, and the unblinking eyes of dozens of decapitated dolls look back.

“Someone came in and said it looked like a child psychologist’s nightmare,” he cackles. “So I made a t-shirt that said: ‘It’s never too late to have a happy childhood’.”

The exhibition continues on West Street until December 2

Lost and Found continues at SPACE Gallery at 6 West Street BS2 0BH until Saturday, December 2. See some of the works at The Loco Klub on Friday, December 8 when Doug and the Invisibles put on Cold Turkey Cabaret.

Doug’s work is available to buy from www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FranciscosEmporium.