‘I didn’t know he was a fascist’: the artist who spent years stalking Trump

‘The idea of meeting Trump as many times as possible was almost like a joke passed around by me and my friends.’ Photograph: Courtesy of the artist

From a Brooklyn studio that looks like a cross between a ransacked Toys R Us and a serial killer’s lair, the artist David Henry Nobody Jr is planning the first survey of his career. Held by a headless dummy strung by its heels from the ceiling are a set of photographs from the turn of the century of a then 30-year-old Nobody with the former president of the United States.

The snapshots are all signed by Donald Trump in gold pen (Nobody supplied the pen). They will be a central piece of the New York artist’s upcoming survey in New York. This was pre-selfie and filter days. The pics are candid, unprofessional and taken by random strangers. Nobody likes the stray elements – unknown heads wandering into frame, giving sideways glances.