John Myatt: The Truth About Fakers

Portrait painter. Artist-in-Residence at Brixton Prison. Composer of cheesy seventies pop songs. John Myatt has led a life of many identities. But that's not to mention the bewildering variety of names he signs on his paintings; Vermeer, Picasso, Monet, Matisse... the 'genuine forger' can impersonate anyone you choose. Together with master conman John Drewe, Myatt fabricated and sold hundreds of masterpieces in a hoax spanning almost a decade, and among the most audacious and largest in recent history.

Since his sojourn behind bars, Myatt has crafted a career helping Scotland Yard as an 'art detective', and as an artist in his own right. From his Staffordshire studio, Myatt supplies 'Genuine Fakes' to anyone who lacks the funds for a real life Vermeer for their kitchen wall. Celebrity fans include Anne Robinson and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, who was painted sans-clothing in the style of Modigliani. But where does that leave the real John Myatt? We talk to the artist himself to find out.

Let's start at the beginning; did you always want to be an artist? Did you develop your own style of painting, or did it just never happen?

I'd always wanted to be an artist. There was nowhere else in the world I could have gone, it just seemed natural. So I studied in art school, worked as an artist for two years, saved up enough money until, actually, I got a deal as a songwriter. So then I moved to London.

Of course, in 1979?

Yeah. [Myatt wrote the 1979 pop song 'Silly Games']

Did working in pop music teach you much about ripping people off?

Nah not really! I just enjoyed it. I was a session musician, it was quite a hard-working life, really That's when I was a young man; I was able to do the late nights and all that. It's not something I would do now.

With art you get to work at your own pace; are you still as prolific as you were in the forging days?

I would say I'm more prolific. I do more work now than I did then. Then I was looking after two young children, so they were my main concern. I had a one-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy to take care of, so they were my main concern. The painting was simply something I knocked off in the evenings on the dining room table. I only did about one painting every fortnight, or even one every month. It wasn't the main focus of my life when I was doing it, it was only after everything exploded and we got caught, and well, it was a crime...

Did you ever get scared your kids would see a book and then the same picture on their dining room table, drying? How did they react when you got caught and arrested?

They were there when I got arrested, they thought it was quite cool, actually! They would get to go on trips down to see me in Brixton prison, a friend of mine would bring them down. They loved the whole novelty of going in to the prison and being frisked and that. And it was only for four months, after all, not too long, so they handled it very well.

How were you regarded in prison?

Just as old, I suppose. Most people in prison are young, under 35 at least, and I was in my fifties. I got along ok, you just keep your head down, go along with it and you'll be OK.

You must have felt a little out of place, locked up for 'crimes against art' rather than crimes against society.

Yes, people thought it was quite funny, really. I painted rather a lot of portraits in prison. Drew, rather - they didn't let me have any paints in prison, but I made quite a lot of money that way. I made quite a good living, I used to charge people for it.

I heard the judge who sentenced you bought one of your paintings.

Yes! The judge, the interrogator and the foreman of the opposition came to my first gallery opening. We're best mates now, it's funny.

So how did you first set out to create old artworks; did you have to try out loads of different combinations to find something authentic-looking?

It was very easy, actually. I would use emulsion paint, acrylic paint, and KY Jelly.
How did you come across that combination?

They're all water-based, so anything water-based will work. I've always been that kind of artist, I'm always experimenting, wondering 'what happens if I mix this with this'.. KY Jelly is ideal to work with if you like using water colours. It simply extends the paint , and makes it a little bit thinner. And then it takes a little bit longer to dry. Great stuff, altogether.

And making the paintings look older?

A cup of coffee, that kind of thing. It's really simple.

What about carbon-testing the age of the paintings?

Not much of that ever goes on, frankly. Paintings never get tested, not until someone wonders whether they're fake or not. Only then. As long as people are happy with the painting they'll never have cause to test it.

It's amazing, how your success as a forger exposes how much of the art market is built on suspension of disbelief.

I think it's just peculiar the way rich people behave. Instead of doing something better like finding something sensible, like, I don't know, finding a cure for cancer, or helping people living rough on the street, they pour millions and millions of pounds into art.

That's what really struck me about your story; that you were selling fake art to people with a fake love of art. Anyone with an interest and a knowledge of the background of the paintings would have been suspicious of them.

I agree with that too. That, actually, is how we got caught in the end. If you're a really good faker, then you'll only need to do it three or four times. If you keep on doing it, like we did, then you're going to get caught. It's what happened to me.

Did you meet lots of runners and other folks who were dealing art. Or was it all just this very glossy world, of Christie's and Sotheby's?

It's definitely a glossy world, but you can't be too hard on them, because, as you said, it does definitely rely on a suspension of disbelief. Christie's have to take you at face value. I mean, you walk in there, say ' I found this in my granny's attic' or something like that, and chances are they won't immediately assume that you're a liar and a fraud. But a lot of it is done with a nod and a wink. People realise that it might be a bit dodgy, but they're willing to give it a try. And if you do buy something at auction and it turns out to be fake, you can get your money back.

Have the hoaxers changed? Is it still very much an issue in the art world?

I work with Scotland Yard, I was recently in Madrid dealing with some fakes. I go all over really.

And it's happening more than ever; it's the sort of thing that's only getting worse in our current economic situation. There's more fake twentieth-century art out there than any other kind.

Have they upped their game much, is it now mostly run by the mob?

I don't think so, not in this country. Certainly in Northern Italy you have organised crime doing it, but say in England, if you have a dealer and a restorer - someone who's worked in restoration for most of their life can definitely turn their hand to trickery from time to time. That's what happens mostly, and there still a lot of it. It's also about 'improving' works of art, which happens frequently. In the 19th century, people had this very fixed idea of beauty, and they decided to make history fall into line with that fixed aesthetic.

Do you ever disbelieve your own work, or find yourself looking at someone else's art collection and wondering if you might have done one or two?

Well, I do have about 150 paintings which weren't collected by the police. So they're still in museums, and in private collections, and will remain there. I'll never say where they are. I did have a very interesting customer in Tennessee, actually, who had two original Van Goghs, they must have spent astronomical amounts on them, I think he's made his money in bottled water or something, but anyway he had two of these paintings and he wanted a third one, and asked if I could just make up a third Van Gogh. So we had to commission a frame, to match the other two exactly.

Do you ever get suspicious of your buyers, and of where your paintings might end up?

Generally it's ok because there's a computer chip stuck in the back, so if you want to remove it you'd have to cut actually the canvas to remove it. I still do have to take precautions with everything I produce, the paintings are signed and printed on the back with 'Genuine Fake' in indelible ink. But what people do with them after I'm dead- if they realign the canvas or whatever- will be out of my control.

Do you get tired of doing certain styles and artists?

Pre-Raphaelites, definitely. I've stopped doing pre-Raphaelites, because they're just so much hard work. Getting the details takes forever. I did used to take anything that came along, at the start, because I needed the money.

How did you shift between styles so easily and quickly?

Oh I don't know, I just tried each new one and did it, I suppose.

It's like a comedian doing impressions!

Yes exactly, that's how it is. Exactly that.

What's your own personal style?

Quite boring really. Figurative, representational. I do portraits, landscapes.. really just your average provincial painter, really.

Do you think your work undermines the works of famous artists?

Nah... I'm a great admirer of Matisse, for instance. I think he really suffered, early on, for what he believed. But I do think there are some artists who just keep to their niche, they just plough on and producing the same stuff year after year. Someone like Bernard Buffet, I doubt you'll have heard of him, but he's one of them. I mean, everything by him just looks exactly the same, and yet he was phenomenally successful in his lifetime. Those artists are easy to fake.

After your hoaxes were exposed, Scotland Yard and the auction houses must have really had to up their game.

No, not at all. Nothing changes, frankly, it's still the same as it was. It's not a good system, but it's the best we can have. Unless you want to chemically test every single thing we've got.

How are the hackers doing it now, have their methods changed? Are there criminal forgery communities, or guides on how to forge art on the internet?

Well, a criminal fraternity won't be using KY Jelly and emulsion paint. That was more just me being silly. They invest in the best materials- authentic old paints, whatever they can get to make it seem more authentic and old. If you want to paint something from the 1950s or 1960s, then the materials used to make those are all still around today on Ebay. Some stuff, like white clay, you can't get anymore. That's why so much of the good fake stuff imitates paintings from the last fifty years.

And what of John Drewe [the art forgery purveyor who commissioned Myatt]? Are you still in contact?

I've not heard from him at all. I suppose he'll have gone on to some alternate universe, where he's pretending to be someone else. He was mad, really. A very damaged bloke, he went completely mad.

How long did it go on for? Did you see a transition from small time to big time criminal?

Over years. By the end he'd gone crazy. He was completely bad news, he had guns and everything.

Are the rumours that they're making a film about your life true?

Yes definitely, the script is being written by Ian La Frenais and Dick Clement. They're working in Los Angeles. Though these things happen so slowly.. but I'm hoping that when it gets made, they'll use my pictures as the props. I'll be the art department.

What a strange inversion of art imitating art, imitating reality!

Yes definitely, it's something I find interesting. I mean, nothing really is ever original, from pop music to politician's speeches... even Barack Obama doesn't write all his speeches himself.

Do you call yourself an artist, or is it more complicated?

Oh definitely, I do my own work as one. I've just finished a portrait commission which lasted six months. I take into account all the things any other artist would, the angle the sitter is at, their clothes and lighting. As far as I'm concerned I'm a perfectly bona-fide painter, one who just happens to knock off the odd Monet or Van Gogh from time to time...

Myatt presents the Sky Arts series 'Virgin Virtuosos', and his works are currently featured in the exhibition, and is the subject of 'PROVENANCE: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art', by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo.

The National Gallery, London, will run ‘Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and Discoveries' from 30th June to 12th September.

Words: Roisin Kiberd