I am Mark Landis, one of the most prolific Art Forgers in the world. AMA!

How much has some of your original artwork sold for? Have you ever had a fake sell for more than the original?

Well, actually, I'm virtually certain that none of them have been sold, and even if they had, it wouldn't be for anywhere near the original. Actually I just don't know. Now things I've done myself have gotten... that's bad english...things have sold for $500 or more. The Canton Museum got $800 for one? It sold? I mean, people buy things at an auction. It sold for $800.

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The Mona Lisa. That's easy. Because I just did it. It took me a whole weekend.

Haha wow, I love that "a whole weekend" to replicate what is arguably the world's best-known masterpiece is a long time to you!

Well, it's like a magic trick you know. If I told people, it wouldn't be worth anything anymore.

How did you discover you had a knack for art forgery?

I thrive on praise and encouragement. Well, actually, it's not something I thought about that much. Let's put it this way: I knew i had a knack, if you want to use that word - an aptitude for arts & crafts from when I was very little. I used to like to copy pictures from museum catalogues. I grew up in Europe, and there weren't TV sets back then, and mother and dad used to like to go out at night, so I would amuse myself by copying paintings from catalogues with pencils or crayons. Mother liked Madonnas or Christchilds. She didn't like martyrdoms so much, or battles. So I never really thought of it as an aptitude for forgery. I had an impulse to do a drawing and pass it off as a gift, from things i Had seen on TV or read about. So I hope - that's probably a little more than you asked. But anyway.

No, that's fascinating. Thank you. Praise is certainly a powerful motivator, and clearly you were able to satisfy that desire through the reception of your work. Have you considered teaching some of your techniques to others? Fostering talent in others seems like it would give that same sort of vicarious satisfaction without the need for deception.

Well, I've never thought about teaching because I don't have a degree, in anything. I've got a special high school diploma, and that's it. So I guess the answer would be no. I wouldn't mind teaching now, you know, if the opportunity were to arise, teaching art, but it doesn't seem likely. But i do my best, anyway, although I doubt I would be qualified. I wouldn't know how to go about doing it. Even if somebody say, had a class all set and everything and said "okay we want you to teach these people how to draw and paint and this and that" i wouldn't know where to begin. so I couldn't, I don't think. And it's something I've never wanted to do either.

What made you become a forger and how did you realize forgery was a skill you had ?

Oh, okay! Way back, I had an impulse, I guess, it was around 1985, I had an impulse to - I guess I was watching things on TV, and you know, I was always seeing things on TV or in movies or about philanthropists giving things, and of course when you're in a museum you see "Donated by" next to pictures - it was an impulse to give away a picture in Oakland while I was there on another business. And everybody was so nice to me, they treated me with so much deference and respect and friendship -they treated me like royalty. When I first found out I was in trouble, I was led to a Guardian article, and that's a UK paper, and it said I had been treated like royalty - I had never been treated like royalty before. I liked it so much, I got addicted, and that's how it all happened.

And what did royalty ever do to deserve to be treated like royalty, anyway?

Hi Mark, I've always wondered, is there any networking between forgers? Do/did you know others personally and dicuss your techniques or the market?

No. Haha! That was an easy one! No. Honestly I've never met another art forger. The answer is no.

And you know, not only that, but I bet if you looked into the matter you'd probably find that not too many art forgers knew each other - whereas now people that forge 1000 dollar bills, stuff like that, they usually get together when they go to the pen - they get together, that's different. But as far as art forgers go - course I'm just speculating.

But as far as I personally can say: no. I don't really know any artists. I do now but I didn't before.

Can you describe the challenge that might be involved in forging a Jackson Pollock piece? Do you consider yourself (or anyone?) up to the task?

There would be no challenge at all, as long as you're just trying to get a superficial - I mean, to pass superficial inspection. Obviously there would be a challenge if you were worried about them checking the kind of paint he used and all that scientific stuff. But I never did any of that anyway. Does that answer the question? Okay. None at all. A 6 year old could do it, maybe a 3 year old. And everybody's heard for the last hundred-something years, mothers have been saying that about their kids, ever since the advent of modern art - "Gee, my kid could do that." It's an old answer.

I've never done a Jackson Pollock but it's obvious it would not be that difficult to do. I've done Milton Avery pieces.

Is the texture/thickness of thrown paint easy to copy with a brush? I had assumed brushstrokes would be easy to discern from the actual work.

Yes, you would be right, I guess, about brushstrokes. I thought Jackson sort of squeezed paint onto the canvas and didn't use a brush. And as far as artists that use brushstrokes, it's something I never really gave much thought to. Experts supposedly can tell things like that, an expert is just someone who knows a great deal about something and sometimes he's right.

Where can I buy an "original" dickbutt?

I don't paint those, but whatever it is, if you submit it, I'll look into it.

Who's your favorite painter and why are they your favorite?

That's a difficult question. It's like asking people what their favorite movie is, or favorite book.

I think I like Victorian painters best. As far as a particular Victorian painter - that would be pretty hard to do. But I could throw a name at you that is probably nobody's heard of that i like very much indeed: Fritz Zuber-Buhler. I doubt if too many people have heard of him - before you have the chance to look him up. I like him very much indeed. I like Victorians best.

I have read no forgery is perfect as the forger will try to put some sort of subliminal sign of his own to get accredited.Is this true ?

Well, not with me. You know, I wouldn't know about other people. I kind of doubt it with others. Ask a psychiatrist, but as far as I'm concerned, certainly not, haha! I'm not crazy, so no. Not with me, anyway.

Although you know, come to think about it, I noticed sometimes when I was copying pictures like of something, I would think "Well, you know...this would look a little better - I think I'll make her a little prettier." I may have done things like that. But it seems like anybody would do that. If I thought I could subtly improve it, yeah, I probably have done things like that. But I wouldn't be thinking to myself "Ah-ha! Those fools! I will leave an obvious clue." But yeah, I have prettied things up. I think it's something you can't help doing. Kind of like the way Mother would be if she saw something untidy or out of place -a lot of people's moms want to fix things up. You know what i mean.

And if you were doing a picture and you thought it was kind of ugly, assuming you had the prerequisite abilities, you'd want to pretty it up, wouldn't you? It seems like anybody would want to do that. I certainly do.

What is your opinion on the monetary value of art & the massive prices payed for some artworks?

What's my opinion? Gee... I hadn't really thought about it... I guess it's like any kind of commodity, or it's more like fashion or something, you know, it's very speculative... because pictures don't have an intrinsic value, really, so you know, it's determined by all kinds of things. I guess the best analogy would be the fashion world, you know, if somebody takes something up and then prices will rise and that sort of thing. That's the best I can do. I've never answered that one before! No one ever valued my opinion or asked me that. So that's the best I can do.

Is there any artist that you have tried and failed to copy?

Oh, well, not really. But you see, that's because the choice was left up to me (except for the Mona Lisa, somebody told me to do that). But the other things - a good way to answer your question is when I chose artists to copy, obviously I liked easy artists to do. Easy ones, like the modern ones, the ones that look like they were done by 6 year olds. However if the museum doesn't collect that sort of thing, I might have to choose an artist that is more difficult to do, like a Victorian or Renaissance painter, somebody like that, you know.

What's the first piece you ever successfully copied? (by successful I mean it passed as real)

Well, the first gift I made was 3 Maynard Dixon drawings of Indians. He was an early 20th century American artist, Western, Californian, that sort of thing. People may not be familiar with him. He was big in the 1980's. I remember - there was a big exhibition of his work at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in the 1980's, and that's what gave me the idea. And actually I didn't copy those - I went to the library and checked out some books with pictures of Indians, and drew those portraits, and just put "M.D." in the corner - so that wasn't really a forgery, just a copy. If you know what i mean.

Being a master of your craft, has there ever been a moment in your life in which you've plotted to secretly replace an original artwork with your own as a sort of escape from the bounds of your usual activity that will test your skills?

You mean, like in some kind of movie, where people hide in a museum and put a copy in its place? No!

Being someone with no artistic ability, I'd think it would be pretty cool to leave behind a mysterious heist legacy that with some effort could be solved and once solved reveal your greatest masterpiece!....just saying

Well, I'm sixty years old. And it sounds like something that when you were a teen-ager, if I was 16 instead of 60, I might think "gee that might be a cool thing to do." But i can't think that way anymore, you know. I think like a sixty-year old man now. It might very well be cool to a teen-ager, but that's the best I can do. It sounds like comic-book stuff, you know. Of course, in some ways I'm still kind of a kid, but it just isn't something that would occur to me. Now maybe when I was more like 12, I would have thought things like that were cool.

Who is the most difficult artist to forge?

Well, that's another one of those questions it's like - in my opinion, difficult artists to forge would be anybody Victorian, and academic, or Renaissance, people who painted meticulously and realistically and extravagantly. All kinds of adjectives like that. If you want some names, people like Fritz, maybe not him but DaVinci would be pretty hard, anybody pre-modern that was museum worthy, let's put it like that.

Hi Mark. Did you go to school for art trading/restoration/maintenance with the intent of getting into forgery, or did forgery come along after you had learned those skills?

Probably, no, no, no and no. I did go to art school, but I went to the Chicago Art Institute and San Francisco Art institute, I never graduated, but I studied filmmaking and photography, I dropped filmmaking and focused on photography, and that was never of use to me, I just learned a lot of obsolete processes. I could probably use an old 8x10 camera, but that's of no practical use today. But as far as studying drawing and painting, no. I'm self-taught. I refuse to give those hippie schools credit for teaching me anything of much use at all. I'm sure they are much better now, but in the early 1970's, they were hippie schools.

Hi Mark, do you believe that forgery is the true art? Could you transfer your skills to copying from real-life images or photos?

As far as the other things, it's something I Never really thought of. Actually, I still don't really think of myself as much of an artist, you know? I'm not much of an artist, and I haven't got any great talent or anything, I do have a facility for arts & crafts, and the rest of it, I kind of lost track of it. I never thought of myself as really a "forger" either. As I said, it was an impulse and I got addicted to it. Everybody likes being treated like royalty, or having people treat them with deference and respect, that sort of thing. VIP treatment, that's it. Everybody wants to get treated like a VIP, don't they?

And I'm not designing this website, but it will allow people to send me their photos so I can paint them. http://marklandisoriginal.com

I will draw or paint anything, as long as it's not too big. The site is being developed by Collette Loll, a forgery expert, with the filmmakers of Art & Craft.

Hi Mark! What work of yours are you most proud of?

Oh... Joan of Arc. That's one that I did, that is. As far as copies go, I don't know. I've sure given a lot of 'em away. I've even sold some. And I've got a couple. I... I do it all the time. Like an assembly line.

Have you ever forged anything of Frida Kahlo?

No. Haha! That was an easy one.

What are some of your other Hobbys?

Oh! Well, if you want to call them hobbies, I spend most of my time... sigh... doing things a lot of lonely old shut-ins do. I watch a lot of TV, I read a lot, and I do them all at the same time. I listen to my satellite radio, I like radio classics, that's my favorite channel, old-time radio, that's it.

what was the weirdest part of having a movie made about you?

Oh, well, there wasn't really anything...well, I guess it surprised me very much indue that anybody would have wanted to in the first place. So I guess that would be the best answer. I was amazed to have a couple of glamorous young NYC filmmakers want to make a movie about me, you know? It's something that would have never occurred to me. really!

So if that would be a definition of weird - it was totally unexpected. Never would have occurred to me. It still seems strange to me sometimes.

Can you draw a picture of me?

Sure. I would be very happy to. They are setting up a website for me to coincide with the release of the movie, with examples of portraits i've done of people, because when I got into trouble, I got taken up by a lady, Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers Wyndham, in Laurel, MI, and she's very prominent in the area socially, anyway she took an interest in me, and they've been having me for the last couple years paint their grandchildren, children, and pets - I like to paint kittens, puppies, dogs, cats, and teenagers. so the answer to your question is: Yes, indeed.

http://marklandisoriginal.com

It will be live in a few days.

When I hear art forger, I think Neil Caffrey. Have you ever been tempted to pawn off a painting to try to make an extra buck or is your career pretty lucrative within the law?

Well, I guess no. As I said, it was just an impulse, you know. I was managing - I had a nervous breakdown, oh, I don't know, when I was around 30, and after that I went to live with my mother and - anyways, that's a long story but I had enough of an income to manage on. Never used to having the lifestyles of the rich & famous. I guess the best answer is no. I liked being treated with so much respect and deference, and even friendship... being treated like Royalty, which I guess just about everybody does, right? So I guess it's understandable. That you get used to it, you know. Get addicted.

How do we know your picture of proof isn't forged?

Well, I guess you don't? I mean, you know, I suppose you could find out, if you wanted to go through the trouble.

Which legendary artwork was the easiest for you to replicate?

Well, I doubt if I ever did anything - until somebody told me to copy the Mona Lisa, I didn't copy anything that was legendary. I chose artists by the criteria - things that I've found easy to do that were quite valuable would be Picassos.

Do you ever have any legal problems by doing your job??

Do you have original paints by you??

Not so far... people have been mad at me, and a few years ago I did get scared and nervous, because some people were kind of upset, but I guess best answer is no, not yet.

And of course! Yes! We answered that one way back. The Joan of Arc one.

Can you forge, the constitution of USA?

Sure. To pass superficial inspection, that is. I mean... it wouldn't pass all that stuff with scientific tests. We'll take that as a given from now on.

Have you seen The Thomas Crown Affair?

Yes I have. The GOOD one, anyway. I saw part of the other one, but the one I remember best would be the Faye Dunaway / Steve McQueen one right? We saw that on the SS United States coming over, on the ship back in 1968, I remember, it was one of the movies they showed on the ship. We saw that, and we saw the Heart is a Lonely Hunter... let me see, what else... the Disney movie about the elections... and then in the mornings they would show cartoons for the kids. I guess I should have just said "yes!"

What are your current relationships like with the art museums you donated paintings to?

That's an easy one. I don't have any. So there aren't any relationships. We haven't got a relationship. Haha!

Did you see Tim's Vermeer?

I'm pretty sure I didn't, because I don't think I've seen a movie with the name Vermeer in it. Is it a new movie? Then I haven't seen it, no. I saw a Rembrandt with Charles Lawton.

What show/movie did I see that had exposed you? Its killing me.

Probably - I can't think - you wouldn't have seen anything, I would think? Maybe an article or something? Or wait a minute - I guess there was something on the news. But otherwise I wouldn't know. Would I?

What got you into forging art in the first place?

I answered this, the impulse one. And I answered it twice, I think, in another one.