How I Became An International Art Thief

A five-step formula to build a billion dollar private collection

I have a confession to make.

For the past few years, I have been quietly stealing dozens of priceless artworks every week, and adding them to my private, daily collection, which travels wherever I go.

Good artists copy, great artists steal, said Picasso. I’m not sure what he said about great art thieves, but I suspect he would have approved.

In my defense, I am simply following doctors’ orders. Many studies have shown the swift physiological benefits to our health from daily exposure to the arts and aesthetics. In their well-researched 2023 bestseller ‘Your Brain On Art’, Ivy Ross and Susan Magsamen make a convincing case for a fresh diet:

“Simple, quick, accessible “acts of art” can enhance your life. Already we see a rise in microdosing of aesthetics as people use specific scents to relieve nausea, calibrate light sources to adjust energy levels, and use specific tones of sound to alleviate anxiety.

In the same way you might exercise to lower cholesterol and increase serotonin in the brain, just twenty minutes of doodling or humming can provide immediate support for your physical and mental state.”

The aesthetic mindset, they argue, shares four key attributes: (1) a high level of curiosity, (2) a love of playful, open-ended exploration, (3) keen sensory awareness, and (4) a drive to engage in creative activities as a maker or beholder.

What am I: A maker or a beholder?

Many of my friends and family are genius makers. My son Lawrence is a professional artist, as profiled in The Face last month, and he just completed a painting marathon in preparation for his debut London solo exhibition, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? at the lbf contemporary gallery.

My friend Sil Penovi sculpts beautiful figures out of blocks of ancient marble and then lives amongst them at the top of a mountain above Laguna Beach, California.

I am in awe of them, and of all art makers, and have zero talent myself.

I am merely a beholder, but a proudly crafty one. I scour the world relentlessly, to steal every work of art that delights or challenges me, before adding them them to my private collection, which I enjoy visiting every day. And today, I’ve decided to spread the love, and share my 5-step Art Theft Formula, complete with screenshots and examples.

I don’t know anyone else who does this, but it works beautifully, as you can see:

First, the 5-step Formula:

1. Equipment required: Apple TV connected to ‘big’ TV screen

2. In your Apple Photos app, create a Shared Album called ‘Shared Art’

3. Collect all images of art you like, and save in ‘Shared Art’ album

4. In Apple TV settings, set up a screensaver which displays large, random selections from your collection

5. Never stop discovering and adding new art to your collection, both online and in real life

It will likely take you 30 minutes to set this up, in return for a lifetime of increasing enjoyment. If that seems worth it, read on. All I ask, is that you let me know how it goes. Now let’s dive into each step.

1. Equipment required: Apple TV connected to ‘big’ TV screen

Even before I became an art thief, I was a big fan of the Apple TV box. For it’s price ($100 to $200) it’s a design classic. Just plug it into any TV and it replaces your TVs shitty interface and fussy remote control with elegant Apple simplicity. You can also take it on holiday with you. There may be a Google/Android alternative way to do this, I have no idea. If there is, please let me know!

What’s a ‘big’ TV screen these days? In the US at least you can now get a perfectly good 65-inch screen for under $400.

2. In your Apple Photos app on your computer or phone, create a Shared Album called ‘Shared Art’

Apple Photos is the colorful app which nobody quite understands that looks like this and stores all your photos, videos and images:

Mine is backed up by iCloud, which is presumably necessary to create a shared album. I manage this on my laptop, as below. Here are the screenshots, including the new ‘Shared art’ album I created:

3. Collect all images of art you like, and save in ‘Shared Art’ album

Now the fun part. Start collecting and saving all the images and photos of beautiful art that delights or challenges you. You may have dozens or hundreds in your Photos collection already, perhaps saved from social media, or photos taken in galleries and museums. Simply copy or drag and drop or them in your ‘Shared Art’ album.

It’s even simpler on your phone. Just select all the images you want to copy into your ‘Shared Art’ album, and then the share button gives you these options. Just ‘Add to Shared Album’ and choose ‘Shared Art’.

I suggest to move to test Step 4 now, before you spend too much time building your collection, to make sure you can view it on your large screen. We’ll come back to finding more art in Step 5, which will then ‘automagically’ appear on your TV.

4. In Apple TV settings set up a screensaver which displays large, random selections from your collection

Now using your Apple TV remote, head into the settings on your screen, and follow these options, in order to set up a screensaver which randomly displays your album.

Essentially, you are setting your ‘Screensaver’ to switch to ‘Memrories and Slideshows’ after 2 minutes, within which you select your ‘Shared Art’ album, and then select your ‘Transition Style’ to ‘Ken Burns/Random’. (If you’re wondering, Ken Burns is the legendary American documentary maker, who perfected the art of breathing video life into old photographs, also known as ‘animatics’, by panning and zooming gently from a still photograph. You’ll likely recognize it when you see it on your screen.)

You might need to play around a little, and you may prefer other transition effects, but it shouldn’t take long to get there. Once set up, just keep hitting the back button on your remote, until your art should appear. If not, give it a minute or so to find your album in iCloud.

If all this works out, it should look something like this:

5. Never stop discovering and adding new art to your collection, both online and in real life

The final step is the fun part, and might last a lifetime. From now on, wherever you go online or in the world, whenever you come across an image that belongs in your private collection, just collect it and add it to your shared album. I tend to save or photograph everything I find interesting, and then once a week or so I scan through all my photos and select the ones I still want to add into my Shared Album. Minutes later, they might start appearing on my TV screensaver, gently panning across or zooming in.

You will have your own preferences, but here are my personal favorite sources:

• Facebook groups or pages dedicated to specific artists or styles (See David Hockney example). These are free, often post multiple pictures a day, and you can easily save the photo on your phone to your Photo app

• Visits to museums or galleries

• Art from my family and friends (e.g. lawrenceperry.com)

• Art websites or articles

• I also collect Banksy/street art and Jazz album covers, especially Blue Note

I hope this has been useful for somebody. I’ve been building my private ‘daily art’ collection for two years now, and it goes wherever I go. It keeps getting better and easier. Please let me know how you get on, or how to improve it.

And I’ll leave you with this beautiful idea, from Stella Adler:

Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.