[MSN] Art Forger Turned Professional Artist]

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Interview of John Myatt ; Art Forger Turned Professional Artist

By Charles Vincent Sabba Jr.

Roll Call 16 August 2006



    The artist, John Myatt, was involved in what Scotland Yard described
as the biggest art fraud of the 20th century. John painted over 200
fakes of Giacometti, Klee, Chagall, and Van Gogh, to name a few. These
paintings were then sold by a master con man that John was associated
with.  John was arrested, and in 1999, served four months of a twelve
month sentence. When he was released from prison he swore that he
would never paint again. The Scotland Yard detective who had arrested
john commissioned him to paint a family portrait. This detective, who
is now retired and one of John's close friends, helped convince him to
return to his easel where he belongs. He is now fast becoming one of
the United Kingdom's most accomplished artists. Here John Myatt
discusses his art and the art world.

     CVS- You had a show in May 2006 at St. Paul's Gallery in London. How
did it go?

      John Myatt- It was a great success! It was Lovely. The gallery wants
to keep the unsold paintings on a semi permanent display. Eventually
I will want to get them back though. I like to look at my old
paintings with fresh eyes and possibly re-work them.

    CVS- Tell me about your art studio.

    JM-  We have one room which is shaped like a dining room. I purposely
put down an old carpet so I can get messy while I work. I go back and
forth to the easels and paint gets splattered all over the floor and
walls. I don't use a palette but mix my paints directly onto a table.
It is rather interesting how the studio is set up. The house was built
in the 1700s. When you leave my messy, worked in modern studio, you
enter a very clean, old home with neat and tidy bookshelves.

    CVS- What does your studio sound like? What kind of music do you
listen to when you work?

    JM-  I listen to classical music; quite often Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi,
but usually Mozart.

    CVS- Would you like to share any thoughts on the contemporary art scene?

    JM- I'm not really part of that. I like to see all artists earn a
living, but have no sympathy for the more challenging aspects of
contemporary art. I view many of their operations more or less as
stunts. Here in the U.K., the government sponsors the arts council.
Public money is spent on the arts and they are afraid to look old
fashioned, so they feel they must always promote art that is cutting
edge. The government needs to leave contemporary artists alone to get
on with it. Good art has always been commercial, even the old masters.
Artists need to make a living, but when you have a Stalinist type
approval in which the government approves the art to be chosen it
distorts the process entirely. The government needs to get out of the
art business.  The whole thing is corrupted by politicians and art
experts. I'm not in the business of calling art work rubbish, though.
I like to see artists earning a living on their art. If they are
supporting themselves on their art they are heroes.

    CVS- Have you ever visited the huge Chelsea gallery district in
Manhattan?

    JM-   We have not been to the gallery district. When we did get to New
York, we spent a few days in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My time
at the Met was well spent. I spent a lot of time studying Monet's
Morning on the Seine because I had received several commissions to
paint this picture. I noticed that hairs from Monet's brushes had
fallen off and stuck to the paint. This was also happening to me as I
painted this scene and I had been painstakingly removing the brush
hairs.  All in all, I like New York very much.

   CVS- Many young artists in New York complain that Chelsea is a well
greased money making machine and they believe that the conformist art
world needs rebels. You certainly entered your art career on a devious
path, that is to say, a less then normal road traveled. Do you consider
yourself a rebel?

   JM- In a way yes. What happened, the crime that was committed, did show
that the whole system of experts and history of painting was silly and
stupid. It made a lot of experts look silly. I quite like that. People
are not ready to use their own eyes when looking at paintings.  You
don't need three years in a university before you can look at a
painting and decide whether you like it or not. When you look at a
fake, you feel all right saying you don't like it. Knowing it is a fake
gives you the power to say "I don't like it" or "I like it". When you
look at an original painting you spend too much time reading the card
on the sides, looking at the signature, listening to the audio. People
think to themselves "Oh, I have to go and study this artist and this
painting". We have to give people the confidence to look at paintings
and just enjoy them. The last thing people want is to feel stupid, so
they wait for someone to tell them what art to like and dislike.

      Also, once you learn to like an artist, you can't afford to buy his
paintings because the prices are too high. Money limits the choices;
that is where I come in. I paint pictures that people can afford.
When I paint an artists painting, it is quite hard to tell it from
an original.

    CVS- Do you get a lot of commissions from New York?

       JM- I get some of my most astonishing commissions from N.Y. I think
Americans are fantastic people and are a pleasure to work with.
They have a nice sense of humor and I like that. What I do is funny
and you have to laugh. A New Yorker recently commissioned me to
paint a very large Picasso. If I painted it the size he wanted, I
could never have carried it out of my studio. I told him that the
painting could be no larger than 6 foot by 6 foot and he just
laughed and stated "that's ok John. You do it as large as I want it
and then you'll find a way".

    CVS- You have mentioned Monet several times. As far as art history
goes, who is your favorite artist?

        JM-   I would have to say Picasso. He had so many different
periods to look at and choose from. He changed his artistic style
almost every seven years.

       CVS-  That is a very interesting point. It causes great pain to
contemporary artists that dealers, critics and collectors reject
any change in their style. When an artist is known for his or her
work, they are expected by the market to stick to it and suffer
consequences if they change.

    JM- Yes, they get trapped. It is sort of like getting stuck in prison.

    CVS- So you love Picasso. I am very enthused about the early Paris
days of Montmartre and Montparnasse.

        JM- I would have loved to have been around in Montmartre at the
Bateau Lavoir. I would have loved to spend time with all those
artists like Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, as well as Apollinaire
and all those poets. I would have loved to be there.

   CVS-  You mentioned Apollinaire. Do you have any favorite poets?

   JM-   I have not read much of Apollinaire's poetry.  I like older
English poets the most, such as John Donne.

   CVS-   Do you have any future exhibitions in line?

   JM- I have one scheduled for December of 2007 on Dover St. in London.

   CVS-   I know you have been talking to television companies. How is
that playing out?

       JM- I am a little frustrated by it all. I have a good working
routine in my studio. What I do is paint. I don't produce TV shows.
I've been busy with the television producers and it is taking me
away from my art work. When I'm not painting, I feel like I'm
wasting my time. After the health and happiness of your family, the
most important thing in an artist's life is his work.



      In the introduction of  Scenes de la Boheme  Henri Murger described
true artists as "...a race of obstinate dreamers for whom art has
remained a faith and not a profession; enthusiastic folk of strong
convictions, whom the sight of a masterpiece is enough to throw into
a fever..."  This is a precise description of John Myatt, who is a
great artist and a good man. He is indeed a true artist of strong
convictions and has dedicated his life to art. John has a more
honest philosophy of art then most big players in the art world
today and is forging his own path without concern for the
conventional thinking of the contemporary art market, or the
limitations it imposes on artists. John's work may be viewed on his
web site: www.johnmyatt.com .



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