Vincent van Gogh lookalike's art career takes off after being told he looks like legendary painter

NationalWorld.com

A struggling artist has seen his career take off - after being told he looks like the late, great Vincent van Gogh.

Transcript

00:00 I'm Karl Stafford, artist.

00:02 I would class myself as surrealist.

00:05 Salvador Dali, Escher, and all the surrealist movements

00:10 is I really like.

00:12 When I first saw the flat,

00:28 I didn't realize Van Gogh lived in this area

00:31 and he taught in this area.

00:32 We had a look at the flat and decided I was gonna have it.

00:46 And then we sat in the park, Spencer Square,

00:49 and we noticed that there's a bust about that high.

00:53 And we went, "Oh, that's Van Gogh's."

00:55 We read about it.

00:57 Then realized he actually lived here.

01:00 And then he taught here,

01:03 a boys' boarding school across the road.

01:05 And then I looked like him.

01:08 So it was like, "Wow, this is amazing.

01:11 "I'm an unknown artist.

01:12 "No one knows who I am."

01:14 And Van Gogh was kind of like the same.

01:18 No one knew who he was.

01:20 No one recognized him.

01:22 He had no money 'cause it was Theo that kept him,

01:26 his brother.

01:28 So I'm kind of like,

01:30 what do you call it?

01:33 On a par with him, even though it's 300 years ago,

01:38 that he's the same,

01:42 that when he lived here, no one knew who he was.

01:45 And I'm the same, and no one knows who I am.

01:48 And we're kind of like clicked in that kind of way.

01:55 But when I first came to the flat,

01:58 it had students in it, and it was trashed.

02:02 - You said that you looked like him.

02:03 Did you ever get sort of mistaken?

02:06 - I did when I went to the Van Gogh thing in London.

02:11 I took my other half's hat, straw hat,

02:16 and I sat in the room with this straw hat,

02:20 and everyone's looking at me twice.

02:22 And then when it kind of finished, we went to reception,

02:26 the reception lady said I had to look twice,

02:29 'cause I really thought that was Van Gogh

02:31 sitting in the corner with a straw hat on.

02:35 So every now and again, if I put my straw hat on,

02:38 I look like Van Gogh a little bit.

02:40 And I like to think that I'm his kind of like brother

02:43 in the 21st century.

02:45 Good luck.

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