An acquaintance sent me an article about the painter Daniel Richter. To be honest, I had never heard of this painter.
You can read the article, an interview with the painter by Timothée Chaillou, here:

“TC: Are your characters "beyond" reason, or deprived of their personality? Are they possessed? DR: They are possessed by reality.
TC: Marnie Weber said that clowns are ‘stuck in an existential quagmire of being cheerful. To be happy is a very dark journey.’ Is this statement relevant for your characters? DR: No.
TC: In a way, your characters can be viewed as masked persons, disguised humans – like clowns. To what extent do you agree with Mark Schlüter when he writes that ‘clowns are screens onto which the enjoyment of the others’ suffering can be projected. This suffering can be staged either as a melancholic gesture, as an enigmatic irony or as a brash slapstick (...) Clowns take the stage as a strident transfer of a gaiety as fake as it is false’. Is this important in your work? DR: When I hear of disguised humans I think of people in uniforms, not clowns.”

Possessed by reality, that’s how I would describe my own characters as well.