Mark_Landis

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?

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.

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

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

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.