Billy Childish

Billy Childish

English artist, writer, poet, photographer, director, singer and guitarist
Date of Birth: 01.09.1959
Country: Great Britain

Content:
  1. Biography of Billy Childish
  2. Early Life
  3. Education and Artistic Career
  4. Music Career
  5. Film and Personal Life

Biography of Billy Childish

Introduction

Billy Childish is an English artist, writer, poet, photographer, director, singer, and guitarist. He is known for his dedication to amateurism and free expression. In 1999, he co-founded Stuckism, an art movement that opposed figurative painting to conceptual art, together with Charles Thomson. However, Childish left the movement in 2001. Peter Doig, in the introduction to Neal Brown's work on Childish's artistic and writing career, referred to him as "one of the brightest and often underestimated figures in the British art scene."

Billy Childish

Early Life

Billy Childish, born Steven John Hamper, was born on December 1, 1959, in Chatham, Kent, England. He started interacting with many artists who later became known as the YBA (Young British Artists) group but insisted on developing his own independent path. When Childish was 9 years old, he experienced sexual abuse from a family friend. He recalls, "We were on vacation. I had to share a bed with him. This happened for several nights before I refused to come close to him. I didn't tell anyone about it."

Billy Childish

Education and Artistic Career

Childish left school at the age of 16 due to undiagnosed dyslexia. He became an apprentice bricklayer at a shipyard in Chatham and produced around 600 drawings in the following six months, which helped him gain admission to St Martin's School of Art. However, he was expelled in 1982 for inappropriate behavior. In 1996, he painted "The Drinker" inspired by Hans Fallada's novel of the same name. He also stated that Fallada had a significant influence on his prose, particularly in the novel "Sex Crimes of the Futcher." Childish's works have been exhibited at the L-13 gallery in London since 2002, alongside the works of Jamie Reid and James Cauty, with whom he occasionally collaborates. In 2008, he began working on a series of paintings about the life and death of Swiss author Robert Walser. In 2010, the largest exhibition of Childish's recent paintings, musical, and artistic works took place at the ICA gallery.

Billy Childish

Music Career

Childish has been involved in various music genres, including punk rock, blues, folk, classical/experimental music, spoken word, and has also recorded several children's rhymes. Musician Ivor Cutler wrote a letter to Childish, appreciating his musical work and stating that he might be too subtle and complex for the mainstream market. Childish has been part of numerous musical projects, including "TV21" (later renamed "Pop Rivets"), "Thee Milkshakes," "Thee Mighty Caesars," "The Del Monas," and "Thee Headcoats." In early 2007, he formed the band "The Vermin Poets" with Neil Palmer and his wife Julie Hamper. Childish has not performed in concerts since February 2011. His name has been mentioned by several renowned musicians, including Kurt Cobain, Graham Coxon, members of the rock band "The White Stripes," and Kylie Minogue. Kylie Minogue even named her album "Impossible Princess" after Childish's book "Poems to Break the Hearts of Impossible Princesses."

Film and Personal Life

In 2002, Childish, along with Wolf Howard, Simon Williams, and Julie Hamper, formed "The Chatham Super 8 Cinema," a group that made films using an old Super 8 camera purchased by Howard at a local flea market. In 2004, Childish released a 30-minute documentary film titled "Brass Monkey," dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the British retreat from Mons in 1914. Childish lived on unemployment benefits for 15 years. He started practicing yoga and meditation in the early 1990s.

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