Billy Childish Art
English, b. 1959
Billy Childish (b. 1959, Chatham, Kent, United Kingdom; lives and works in Whitstable, Kent) is known for his introspective, autobiographical, and deeply emotional paintings, writing, and music. After leaving secondary school at age 16, Childish worked at the Naval Dockyard in Chatham as an apprentice stonemason. Initially denied an interview to the local art school, he produced hundreds of drawings that gained him entry to London’s Saint Martin's School of Art. Childish's defiance of authority led to his eventual expulsion from art school in 1981. Since then, Childish has gained something of a cult status worldwide, writing and publishing several novels and more than 40 volumes of confessional poetry, recording more than 150 LPs, and painting several hundred works. Through all of these disciplines, Childish addresses social, political, and personal issues such as war, protest, his turbulent childhood, and his struggles with addiction.
While his confessional poetry and music explore these issues with startling honesty, Childish’s paintings are more subtle. His subjects are often drawn from his environment or are people he knows or admires: birch forests, self-portraits, a lone figure in a pastoral English landscape, and his wife as a reclining female nude. Childish works quickly and intuitively, making spare marks on raw canvas that leave much of it visible. He identifies with artists who worked outside a group or movement, intrigued by their outsider roles in society, such as Vincent van Gogh, Kurt Schwitters, and Edvard Munch. Labeling himself a “radical traditionalist,” Childish has a reverence for traditional oil painting yet has resolutely resisted any connection with a particular group or artistic movement.to
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Artist: Billy Childish
Tree – Seattle
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish,
Tree – Seattle,
38.3 x 30.5 cm,
edition of 200, 2022
hand-signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and writer know...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Light Through Trees
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish
Light through Trees , 2022
Archival print on heavy matt stock
39 x 30.5 cm
Edition of 200
signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artis...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Salish Canoe and Rock
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Salish Canoe and Rock, 2023
Archival print on heavy matt stock paper
30.5 x 34.5 cm
Edition of 200 signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, mus...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Strawberry Tree and Mount Tahoma
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish
Strawberry Tree and mount Tahoma,
30.5 x 38.3 cm, edition of 200, 2022
hand-signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Salish Fishermen
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish
Salish Fishermen
44 x 30.5 cm, edition of 200, 2022
hand-signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and writer known for...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Volcano
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish
volcano, 2022
22 Colour Screenprint with Lithographic elements on Somerset Velvet warm white 400gsm
Signed and numbered by the artist
76 x 60 cm
Edition of 100
Billy ...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Screen
Billy Childish - Man in a Small Boat
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish
Man in a Small Boat, 2017
Edition of 100
hand-signed and numbered
31 x 37 cm - sheet size.
published by L4.
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, an...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Man With Guitar By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Man With Guitar
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, poet, and writer known for his raw, uncompromising creativity across various mediums, emerging from...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Paper, Woodcut
Untitled (self portrait) By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Untitled (self portrait)
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his raw, energetic, and often provocative approach to art and culture....
Category
1990s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Digital, Paper
Untitled (self portrait) By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Untitled (self portrait)
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his raw, energetic, and often provocative approach to art and culture...
Category
1990s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Digital
Swan and Fish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish,
Swan and Fish, 2023
edition of 50,
26 x 21.5 cm
hand-signed and numbered by the artist.
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and writer known for...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Woodcut
Billy Childish - Wading Out
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Wading Out, 2019
Archival print on heavy matt stock
44.5 x 30.5 cm
Edition 190 of 200
signed and numbered by the artist
From Sold Out edition
Billy Childish is a prolific British ar...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Men Hoisting Sails
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish
Men Hoisting Sails, 2021
30.5 x 44 cm
edition of 200
hand-signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and writer known fo...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Swimmer
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Swimmer, 2019
Archival print on heavy matt stock
30.5 x 38.3 cm
Edition of 200
signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and writer k...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Julie Swimming II
By Billy Childish
Located in Manchester, GB
Billy Childish, Julie Swimming II, 2019
Archival print on heavy matt stock paper
30.5 x 44.5 cm (12 x 17.52 in)
Edition of 200
Hand-signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Child...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Flowers In Mouth Puller Pot By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Flowers In Mouth Puller Pot
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his prolific output across painting, poetry, and punk music. His ra...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Julie Swimming II
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Julie Swimming II
Archival print on heavy matt stock
30.5 x 44.5 cm
Edition of 200 signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and write...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Self Portrait By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Self Portrait
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his raw, energetic, and often provocative approach to art and culture. Emerging f...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Digital, Paper
The Mountain that is God
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Billy Childish,
The Mountain that is God,
38.3 x 30.5 cm, edition of 200, 2022
hand-signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and wri...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Man With Jackdaw By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Man With Jackdaw
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and poet known for his prolific work across various mediums, including painting, punk rock music, a...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Paper, Woodcut
Cliff with star
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Cliff with star, 2023
Archival print on heavy matt stock paper
30.5 x 30.5 cm
Edition of 200 signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician,...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Untitled (Sailing Away) By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Untitled (Sailing Away)
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his prolific output across painting, poetry, and punk music. His raw, e...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
Self Portrait By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Self Portrait
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his raw, energetic, and often provocative approach to art and culture. Emerging f...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Digital, Paper
Man in the Mouth of the Cave
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Man in the Mouth of the Cave, 2019
Archival print on heavy matt stock
30.5 x 30.5 cm
Edition of 200 signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, mu...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Night Forest
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Night Forest, 2019
Archival print on heavy matt stock
30.5 x 44.5 cm
Edition of 200 signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and writ...
Category
2010s Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Untitled (Sailing Away) By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Untitled (Sailing Away)
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his prolific output across painting, poetry, and punk music. His raw, e...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Oil, Cardboard
Julie Swimming I
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Julie Swimming I
Archival print on heavy matt stock
36.4 x 30.5 cm
Edition of 200 signed and numbered by the artist
Billy Childish is a prolific British artist, musician, and writer...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Archival Pigment
Vipers Tongue By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Vipers Tongue
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and poet known for his prolific work across various mediums, including painting, punk rock music, and...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Woodcut
Untitled (skull) By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Untitled (skull)
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his prolific output across painting, poetry, and punk music. His raw, expressi...
Category
Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Paper, Pencil
Price Upon Request
Untitled By Billy Childish
By Billy Childish
Located in London, GB
Untitled
By Billy Childish
Billy Childish is a British artist, musician, and writer known for his prolific output across painting, poetry, and punk music. His raw, expressionist wo...
Category
2010s Contemporary Billy Childish Art
Materials
Paper, Woodcut
Price Upon Request
Billy Childish art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Billy Childish art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Billy Childish in archival pigment print, color pencil, paper and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 21st century and contemporary and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Billy Childish art, so small editions measuring 8 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of John Rettie, Tami Bahat, and Ken Burton. Billy Childish art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $750 and tops out at $7,645, while the average work can sell for $4,433.