Signified, Signed: A half-serious exploration of celebrity and identity
Visit signifiersigned.com to see all 75+ signatures.
"What's your favorite 'Paul Schmelzer,' Paul Schmelzer?" So asked BBC London's Gaby Roslin in September 2015 of my enduring quest to get celebrities, artists, and politicians to sign not their autograph but my name. Since the year 2001, I've convinced the likes of Yoko Ono, Frank Gehry, Kim Gordon, Henry Louis Gates, Maya Lin, and Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson), plus dozens of others, to sign my name. Part conceptual art project, part gag, it's been featured by the BBC, Cabinet magazine, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Readers Digest, to name a few. Visit Signifier, Signed to see how the project got started, see who's participated (including Henry Rollins, Noam Chomsky, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Tweedy, Wim Wenders, Ian MacKaye, Spalding Gray, and Sen. Paul Wellstone) and who hasn't (Stephen Colbert, Barbara Kingsolver, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, who all sent regrets).
The essay: Read Ben Davis's thoughtful take on the project, "In the Triangle of Fan Culture, Comedy, and Conceptual Art."
The interview: Listen to my 2015 conversation about the project with BBC London's Gaby Roslin.