Funny Gary Baseman Interview

San Francisco-based gallery and website, Fecal Face, posted an interview with Gary Baseman today. As usual with Gary Baseman interviews, it’s an interesting read. But with this particular story, I almost felt badly for the interviewer, Daniel Rolnik. Baseman resists every question.

Q: What’s your favorite weird movie?
A: Does it have to have “weird” in the title?

Q: What are your favorite paints and colored pencils to use?
A: Does it matter?

Q: Why do you believe Americans in particular are so easily offended?
A: Lets start off with your premise, are Americans so easily offended?

Q: On average, how many pieces of art do you create per month?
A: Let me start off by saying I think this is a stupid question.

Damn, that’s funny. It’s not that the questions are bad. Rather, it tends to point out the problems you run into when you don’t do interviews in person. (This happened to me during an email interview with Luke Chueh, and the result was less combative than just plain boring.) In person, you can at least gauge how a person will react to your questions and switch gears if need be. In writing, your subject may pick up the transcript on an off day or perhaps misinterpret the meaning of a question. Maybe one day I’ll get to interview Gary Baseman. (Mental note to not ask him about deli food or electrical work…) Read the rest of the Fecal Face interview here.