A SELF-CONFESSED art forger is staging an exhibition in Brighton in June.

David Henty is known around the world for his skilled paintings and his work is banned from being sold online on some auction sites.

He has more than 25 years’ experience copying works of art and is now considered one of the world’s leading painters.

Mr Henty admits he makes a lot of money copying the works of such iconic artists as Pablo Picasso and Van Gogh.

He said: “I just really like my life.

“I get up in the morning and paint.

“It’s down to practise – some people have got a lot of talent but have not got perseverance.

“It’s a great life.

“One day I knocked out three little Lowrys by 11am.”

However, this is not the living he ever imagined for himself.

Raised in Brighton, his first job was dealing in antiques and cars with his father.

He was sent briefly to prison in the Eighties for forging passports, which is where he started learning to paint.

Mr Henty goes through a thorough process when creating his pieces of art.

He researches and studies the original painting and then examines how the artist worked and what they used within the piece.

He usually creates his copies for art enthusiasts and private collectors.

This will not be the first time he has exhibited his work at the No Walls Gallery, part of the Brighton Art Gallery in Church Street.

The Art Of Copying displayed 40 pieces of Mr Henty’s work and included replicas of Francis Bacon and Amedeo Modigliani.

He is exhibiting his work there again in June.

A Question Of Attribution will feature pieces by Mr Henty and fellow art forger Billy Mumford.

Mr Henty is exhibiting his Old Masters of Fine Art and Mr Mumford is displaying some pieces of his Sixties Abstract.

Lucy Monk, a colleague of Mr Henty, said: “David has a wide variety of paintings within his collection, including the likes of Van Gogh, Modigliani, Picasso, Caravaggio, Walter Sickert, Gauguin, Norman Rockwell, Alfred Munnings, Lowry, John Millais and Francis Bacon.

“Last year our first solo exhibition in May in Brighton attracted a huge audience including a lot of press.

“We are involved in various projects throughout 2017, including a TV show with Sky Arts called Fake! the great masterpiece challenge.

“We also have a book being published – a non-fiction Forgers Handbook, co-written with Billy Mumford.

The exhibition runs for a week from June 10.