I Can Fake Any Painting | Minutes With | @LADbible TV

I remember that judge said to me Mr Brandon you're such an accomplished painter why do you persist in doing these forgery I'll say it's like this when I see an old canvas I can't help it I I've just I've got a knack of being able to copy any subject doesn't matter I've done Picasso I did a Picasso and I couldn't even remember the guitar I didn't know which way you would I did it upside down apparently [Music] can you tell me where did you grow up and what was your childhood like um I grew up in Brighton in Buckingham Road near the station first room was mum's room where we live in my half-sister stayed there back bedroom with three of us all top to toe in the bed you know that was it hardly any blank it's a big army coat under bed it was poverty there's a place in Brighton called Warren farm and it was I spent about two years in there we were back and forwards to the home until finally one day I think they'd had enough you know they came to us and Mrs Gibson and Mr Odin and brought us new clothes all in Gray and said your boys would have to take them it was like a care system you were taking it why is that just because your mom mum had CB mum had a form of tuberculosis because she worked in the laundry in the 30s and from The Damp sheets she got this so so she just couldn't look after us and that's what they used to do in those days you had no choice just as to take you away and that was it after that they moved us around from one place to another and that was the Holmes oh incidentally Peggy Ridley bought me my first set of oil paints and I started oils it when I was six six and a half just six just before I went into Dr bernardo's to put these lovely paints and I oh hours and hours doing everything I even started a copy I was copying the Constable for hay Wayne and doing things that so I painted all my life and when you get into bernardo's system they encourage it they if I if it hadn't been for bernardo's I don't know where I'd have been I really don't know but on the day I left on a November night with one pound 50 or 10 Shillings it no 30 Shillings in my pocket and I actually ended up looking for jobs and I saw this and Men wanted for circus this is my circus days and the first guy that came to me was a guy called Louie and he went what do you want son I said you got any job sir he said how old are you I said you never it's heavy work this is I said well I said I can do it he said I don't think are you so skinny looking he said no I'm sorry and I walked away and he went come here if you ever worked with elephants or in no he said come with me so I walked in walked me across this was winter course massive big elephant tent and all the elephants are all lined up and he said your job is to look after these you'll be washing them down and raking them out and cleaning them that one day I was um I was painting my day off and Dicky chippyfield he said he said did you two of those Max I went yeah said can you do the sides of the trucks and the wagons and do them surgery the Lions I said yes so so I became part of the family and I ended up with my own Caravan what was the this turning point in your life when you understood that art Fortune is a thing and you can start doing that when did I start forging yeah uh and I left the circus I didn't think you're bad enough I want to go to London right so because I thought I want to paint you know so but I you know before that I arrived in London and ended up in Shepherd's Bush and I was dosing I was sleeping rough you know with all the other doses but they looked after me I couldn't afford new canvases so I started buying old ones and uh I thought I know what I do I saw a copy of a Clarkson Stanfield and I thought I can copy that on Old canvas aged up with tea stains secret of what I was I was good at was they represented reproducing the colors of that day and the Aging I don't know if you're too young to remember what they're called bead glue it was a glove Scotch glue it's called and you'd use it in woodwork you place it in the pan and that cold water leave it open diet goes to a jelly next day you put it on the heating and it comes to like a liquid get your old painting do it on there brush it over take it to a heater but it can't be dry heat it's got to be electric fire and you Circle it like that go to the tap wash the B group this is a water base you're left with all the cracks empty your Hoover out put it on the floor rub it all in all the cracks are filled with crap old glass on there in frame and Nails you've got in the garden have been there for six weeks tap them all in don't you'd fool anybody because they think how the hell does he get these cracks on it and a guy came up to me who was my sort of my father you figure his name's Samuel Cohen and he looked at me and he went hello Sonia said to peaches he said how much is that shipping scene I went 150 went it's a bit cheap it's a good painting that where'd you get it from I said well I'll just get him he said come on tell me I said look I paint them you went you paint these I went yeah so he said tell you what he said come and have a coffee me or drink a wine and we'll talk about it they're so going to meet Sammy Cohen and uh the aging and the auctions all it all stem from there then we we hit the auction rooms big time really big time can you talk me through that okay so Sammy and I we used to go as father and son like hello Dad and all that sort of thing well you would be pretended that we knew nothing about paintings first of all we would go into the auction room and say good morning sir and you go good morning and he said uh I said would you have a look at some smudges so I've got and you guys yes of course so he said I said Dad bring them in so he'd bring these pictures in and he'd go we used to sell a lot of bring a lot of crap pictures rubbish and like we call Pot boys like a lot of junkies to buy and you'd throw in a goodie like a like a Clarkson Stanfield and you go oh is that on the floor there can have a look at that your dad's pick that picture up and you pick the pen you go yeah that's quite nice it's quite a nice picture while I'm talking Sammy would stop me and they go you see son said this gentleman really knows his business if you study like what we're doing trying to get his mind off what he's looking at then it is to go into the auctions and then it would be a wish to ring it but we used to go to a preview you and stand there next to the picture with our brochure potentially potential buyers and then we'd listen to the comments right so think yeah he'd come out and say yeah nice nice uh nice picture you would have a go at that we'd look at him and think right on the day of the auction we would pick them all out and think he's gonna have a go he's gonna ever go and and Sami was on one side I'd be the other we'd be we'd be ringing it we'd be beating it up so I had my certain sign I might even straighten the tie or do something like that he would so if when we when it got to about two or three thousand we probably started to sort of like be careful as you're going to buy the value thing about yourself and it started to bid up we got to five and a half Grand a way out so we used to do that right I'm out gone and that's how the auction that somebody stood do what would you say were the most famous paintings you copied I paint I copied everybody when you say famous oh I've I hit a lot of galleries in Bond Street but with lesser known artists you know you don't walk around with a Rembrandt or a Picasso or something like that it's too good to be true I mean Larry yeah I could do Larry's but he was very popular he was a vet in 68 he was not quite so well known as his today but you know I was we used to hit the auction rooms I mean I hit a certain calorie for 80 000 in Pond Street you know and that's what that's what we were doing that we were hitting big time that was a couple of Samuel Palmers and they look good but you know that was it we did lesser known by his artists you know can you tell me about Iranian Reggie Craig how how are you painted your mother this was strange one day I'd already met Ronnie Cray's boyfriend on the on Green Park you know the railings with the paintings he came up to me one day it was suited in Period about my age he was he went hello so he said do you do these smudges like I said yes so do you ever do portraits from photographs I went yes he said uh he said where are you then we I said well I'm at Portobello Road on Saturday so he came down he went hello so he said I've got his photograph he said do you want could you do it and it's the lack of a woman about about 50 or something like that so he said can you do that smudge then I went yes he said by next week I went yeah I can do that for you so I went and did it and came back with it and he went my mates are up the road at a pub called The Olive Lonsdale I think it was and they he walked in front of me and I worked at the back and uh I walked into the pub and it was pretty darkish you know I couldn't focus it was quite sunny outside and I and I suddenly recognized Reggie Reggie was sitting down Ronnie was at the bar and Rodney came up to me went hello son he said you got that smudged and you've done it have you my boy says you've done it went yeah he said let's have a look then so I pulled it out the bag like that and he it all went quieter didn't like it and he went he went Reggie have a look at his Reggie ever look at his Reggie you really did this son I went yes he said bloody Marvis look at Reggie have a look he went yeah cool that's mum look he's the eyes are right aren't they sit down son so I sat down cry there cry there I'm in the bloody middle I have a drink and I was going I was so nervous especially if Ronnie you know because there's something about him and he went he went uh love it he said how much are you then son and I was going well you went and registered give him a two I thought two quid 200 pounds and 68 with a fortune and Ronnie put his hand on my leg and he went and he's a good looking kid and well he looks like a pop star and yes I'm going out the door he goes here he said max Maxi boy you must come and have a team with my mum in Valance Road I went I can't miss her I've got to go to church on Sunday I was out of that one crazy thing so that was it it's Quaver versatile scale to copy different techniques and everything how did you achieve that I I've just I've got a neck of being able to copy any subject doesn't matter I've done Picasso I did a Picasso and I couldn't even remember the guitar I didn't know which way went up we did it upside down apparently but so it didn't matter but it I didn't know but but there are nobody fakes today it's just because it because of the the knowledge they have the you know the the scientific in my day they didn't have that you could get away with it now they can even tell you what day you painted it or or the color you've used you know so you know now it's it's too difficult you know I wouldn't bother anyway what was the point that got you into prison um well the first time I went into net and uh I was tossing I ended up in Dorchester uh I was sleeping in the railway cut truck and I got out one morning uh and I thought right no food starving and I was in Dorchester walked up the High Street and thought hello uh don't I didn't eat for two days I walked into this hotel little guest outing and I saw a chandelier so I nicked the chandelier and a 100 day clock and wheeled it down the High Street and just thought I could sell it for food and then somebody somebody at the station said this guy just walked in you know wheeled something in the baron they got me and I I ended up in the magistrates court and I refused to give them my address so they gave me three months but as soon as you get in Nick and they know you can paint and draw your mate because they respect you for who you are there and I had a separate cell and I started my drawing and I was my I was doing um old drawings and dogs and pictures and children for the for the old legs so I got I became a tobacco Baron I was doing a painting a drawing for some tobacco there's an artist called Samuel Palmer peninning drawings now Sammy used to come to me on a visiting day now in those days I was not high risk and I used to sit on the table and Simon says how you doing son are you finding it I went no he said dear listener fancy doing a bit of work here am I going to do it here and send it by post he went no he said up my sleeve I've got um six sheets of old paper which he nicked in the library used to go to the baby and raise them out of the old books you know and used to roll them up and I'd be talking to him like that and he'd go right and then he'd go and he said now then do your time keep your head down and you'll be out soon and and then you would just slide out my sleeve now I'd go back and I would say out Governor you went okay then I said see you later dad and I need to cut to myself put them in my Bible and they'll knock out a Samuel Palmer and pen and ink drawing and I think right in my Bible and then don't get about six together next visit three weeks after you'd come along would you go and I've done five for you I went good lad so he used to do the same thing roll them up in his sleeve so when I came out I had a few Bob in the bank you know so it was good they were going for about 1500 quid that's the first time winning Nick and after that I did three stretches for a forgery I remember that the judge said to me Mr Brandon you're such an accomplished painter why do you persist in doing these forgery I'll say it's like this when I see an old canvas I can't help you I just get a withdrawal synth I've got a paint on the bugger and I get that feeling now you know I I must admit I miss the old days I really do miss the old days yeah so the other three times in prison yeah have you spent a long time in there what I did agencies I did an 18. a month for forgery two semi apartments from the greedy dealer called Otto who tried to sell the people what the same paintings in the same auction uh auctions how he got me came back to me I got raided in cricklewood came in a fraud Squad and of course I've got two on the easel right not finished and he went hello I said I don't know anything about them sir anyway Bank the rights gone so I've got 18 months on that one and then the other time was uh I've got I've got an eight month uh you know I've got an eighth month for doing a yeah that was the same sort of thing it was fake at the gallery for the galleries got wise to me after a while I didn't just do it in London I did Manchester I did uh Canterbury I did a nice big hit in Canterbury yeah did you ever feel about selling someone a a copy no and honestly it was survival I mean I felt sorry one day when I was in the auction room and I did a Thomason oh it was a good it was a Dutch winter scene skating figures and it went up to 14 000 and it was a total fate but the caves were so right it was perfect and the guy came to me after a Persian guy in a lovely suit he went I'm so sorry my friend you did not get the picture I said well Governor you win Sam you knew samsa that's it but I did feel guilty I do feel guilty sometimes you know it was just it was just living surviving because I've been ripped off so many dealers and that sort of thing you know you live on the edge I'm okay now I don't money is is okay but I still love meeting people I love all this I love talking um I do I love my bernardos I made a lot of money I made 80 grand for barnardos for you know auctions you know I met Ollie Reed in one of my auctions so yeah but what would you say your is your favorite style to copy uh I did a Caravaggio and I got it pretty damn close to the original it's called the taken of Christ if you know it there's there's a there's Caravaggio there's the Two Soldiers uh there's dividers there's Jesus and Saint Peter I sold that you know I know when I sold it I was heartbroken because I didn't want to sell it yeah I've got a Coolidge I've got a Coolidge which the dog's playing poker have you seen that I love it and I don't I don't give them monkeys about the money side of it I really don't if any of you need a Banksy on your kitchen door ring me up I'll come and do it I'll Thrice I'm gonna hold you to that so we just showed them the film of what we did and all the photographs and I just remembered the security heads of security just putting his head in his hands and just over and over again saying two million because they'd spent two million pounds on the defenses and and it was all for nothing in the face of you know a cheeky scouser really

Channel: LADbible TV

Views: 647,671

Keywords: the lad bible, lad bible, lad, bible, videos, viral videos, viral, documentaries, exclusives, interviews, art forgery, crime, picasso, fake art, fake paintings, forgery, antiques, paintings, banksy, expensive art, world most expensive art, 7 million dollars art, auctions, kray brothers, portraits, landscapes, abstract painting, still life drawing, drawings, Tom Keatings, Banardos, fake, Carvaggio, Jack Vettriano, Johannes Vermeer

Id: 5iy2DO7lXyo

Length: 16min 45sec (1005 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 09 2022