The Insane Clown Possethe face-painted, Faygo-swilling horrorcore duo behind viral profundities like "Fuckin Magnets, How Do They Work?"has inspired an FBI investigation into their fans alleged gang activity, the stoning of Tila Tequila, and a cult following of thousands, who convene annually at "The Gathering of the Juggalos."

Now, the ICPs devotees have inspired the worlds first Juggalo-themed art exhibition, called Where the Juggalo Roam, on view until December 20th at Start Gallery in Detroit.

The works are comprised entirely of oil paintings by British artist Lucy Owen, who immersed herself in juggalo culture for several months after learning of Insane Clown Posse for the first time last year. She would soon find herself drawing unlikely inspiration from the bandnot just visual fodder for her paintings, but ideas on how to live one's life, too (although she's still not sure how magnets work).

"I was online one day, and saw a self-proclaimed juggalo getting tons of abuse from posters on a forum," Owen tells Co.Design. A bit of online research revealed "widespread mockery" of juggalo culture. "It was like watching poor little fat kids get bullied on the playground," she says.

Owen started to listen to ICP and Twiztid, the bands proteges, to better understand this killer clown bands cult following and its haters. While she found some of their violent lyrics hair-raising (a random sampling: "I'm hating sluts/Shoot them in the face, step back and itch my nuts"), she decided she had to come to America "to see some real live juggalos." Off she went to The Gathering, a three-day festival in Detroit.

Though she was initially terrified ("What if the juggalos turn on me?"), Owen ultimately found The Gathering "magical." "They were lovely," she says. "Everyone was deeply charming and polite and respectable. I was impressedthat wasnt the case at more mainstream music festivals Id been to."

The paintings in "Where the Juggalo Roam" resulted from Owens experience becoming not a full-on juggalette, but what she describes as "a friend of the family." They portray these maligned, deliberately clownish characters in a fantastical but humanizing light.

"As a creative person, I learned a lot of things from Twiztid and Insane Clown Posses business model," she says. Theirs is a business strategy that flies in the face of hard-sell, self-promoting models most pop stars use. Here you have two guys from financially depressed backgrounds in Michiganknown as Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dopewho have openly called themselves 'The least talented band in the world,'" a designation Owen disagrees with. "They disturb and disgust people, yet "theyve created an empire out of nothing."

The Insane Clown Posse has sold more than 7 million releases and earns upwards of $10 million a year (insert evil clown laugh).

"The message in their lyrics and in the way they operate is to just keep trying, and not to worry if people dont like you or your work. I took a lot from that," Owen says. "Its kind of strange." It's a valuable lesson for any artist or designer, struggling and face-painted or otherwise. Owen tried to live by this sentiment while making her paintings, which draw from photographs she took at The Gathering, photographs she found online, and her imagination.

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