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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.
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Artist: Billy Childish
Dealer: Baldwin Contemporary
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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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