What is Faceless Artist?
My reasons for interviewing artists and making a fanzine out of it.
Back in 2015 I started toying with the idea of starting a contemporary art magazine. I was inspired by another Norwegian publication called Personal Best started by Lasse Marhaug. Personal Best is a magazine-sized fanzine that features interviews with people from the noise, avant-garde and the underground music scene. Not just from Norway but also New Zealand, Japan, USA and other countries. What struck me was the personal connection in the interviews and also the fascinating lives those people led. Seldom driven by money or fame. But still their drive was so relentless and fascinating. I felt connected to those people, perhaps even more than my own contemporary art scene. So I started toying with the idea of doing something similar for the Norwegian, Contemporary Art scene. I found out that a small fanzine publication was a reasonable choice. A magazine was just to much work for one person and I would be independant to do it the way I wanted.
I went out and bought myself a cheap but nice dicta-phone(Zoom H1) to record my interviews with. And that was basicly all the equipment I needed. Except, of course, a computer and a black&white printer. I struggled a bit to find a suitable name for the publication and what to focus on in the interview.
After some back and forth I landed on Faceless Artist. I’m quite happy with it for two reasons:
- It relates to my horror movie interest(actually visualising an artist with a thorn off face, sweet!).
- And I think it points to the situation most artist find themselves inn. That the lack off exposure is their no. 1 reason for not earning money as an artist.
The other thing I did, was deciding that the interview would focus on the working process of the artist and also their day to day life in the studio. This was important to me because it was the thing I was most interested in and also something the artists themselves feel the need to communicate. It might not be for everyone, but at least I felt really strongly about the consept. I think also it’s a good way to understand the artist’s work and it makes it more much more interesting when you learn about the artist’s relation to their own work.
Here is the first interview from Faceless Artist №1:
