Kjartan Slettemark was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

-Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 artist. Kjartan is a Norwegian corruption of the Gaelic

Gaels

The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....

 name Muircheartach (= Sea warrior). His surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

 consists of the Norwegian words slette (= a plain) and mark (= field). Paying homage to his artistic project, he often spelled his first name KjARTan.

He first made a name for himself as an artist with a collage he placed in front of Stortinget (the Norwegian Parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

) in 1965, titled "From a report from Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

: Children are splashed with napalm

Napalm

Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...

. Their skin is burnt into black wounds and they die." This work of art consists among other things of a red mouth, an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 flag and a child figure. It was donated to the National Gallery in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 in 1982.

He started to make passport (very alike those official at the time) for the fictional country Kjartanistan. Around 500 were made for persons interested in sitizenship. The passports do not have a period of validity - they last as long as the owner lives.

In the mid-1960s Slettemark was a teacher at an art school in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

, and he took Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 citizenship in 1966. In his teaching, he fell out with the school's leadership when he refused to give his pupils marks. In order to solve the problem, he handed them little colourful drawings instead. He was consequently fired, and had to apply for financial support from the social security. However Stockholm's social services wanted it clarified whether Slettemark was an ordinary unemployed person, or a patient with a mental illness. Slettemark insisted that he was an artist, but was diagnosed borderline

Borderline

Borderline or border line may refer to:*Border-In film:*Borderline , a film starring Paul Robeson*Borderline , a film noir starring Fred MacMurray*Borderline , a film starring Charles Bronson...

, and received a prescription for Hibernal (tablets for treatment of psychosis

Psychosis

Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...

). Instead of taking the pills, Slettemark used them in his art. During the happening "Lecture in the art of falling", he balanced on a line in Stockholm, visualizing his three years of conflict with Swedish psychiatry. The photographer Brita Olsson took pictures of the happening.

In the 1970s he worked on his "Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 visions", travelling Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 with a photo of Nixon, equipped with Slettemark's hair and beard, in his passport. During this period, he also figured in a self-made poodle

Poodle

The Poodle is a breed of dog. The poodle breed is found officially in toy, miniature, and standard sizes, with many coat colors. Originally bred as a type of water dog, the poodle is highly intelligent and skillful in many dog sports, including agility, obedience, tracking, and even herding...

 costume, after the inspector at Stockholm's social service had told Slettemark to report at hundmottagningen (the dog reception), instead of kundmottagningen (the customer reception). The pun is lost in English, but inspired Slettemark to spend half a year constructing the costume, complete with inlaid sound from a television jackpot programme. Slettemark only had to unscrew the costume's tail when he sat down in the tube.

In 2003 Slettemark made "Self-portrait with Marilyn", an Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

-inspired collage series, staging himself as Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

. Another project of his was the introduction to Kjartanistan, a non-territorial state with planet Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 as capital city, and himself as prime minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

.