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Billy Childish Paintings

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
Untitled (self portrait) By Billy Childish
Untitled (self portrait) By Billy Childish

Untitled (self portrait) By Billy Childish

By Billy Childish

Located in Dubai, Dubai

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 Paintings

Materials

Digital, Paper

Untitled by Billy Childish
Untitled by Billy Childish

Untitled by Billy Childish

By Billy Childish

Located in Dubai, Dubai

Untitled By Billy Childish 1994 Oil on board - painted on both sides (please see images attached). Unsigned 44 x 66 cm Provenance: Private collection (UK) Private collection (...

Category

1990s Contemporary Billy Childish Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Untitled (Sailing Away) By Billy Childish
Untitled (Sailing Away) By Billy Childish

Untitled (Sailing Away) By Billy Childish

By Billy Childish

Located in Dubai, Dubai

Untitled (Sailing Away) By Billy Childish 2002 Signed on reverse Oil on card 8 5/8 x 6 1/8 in 22 x 15.5 cm

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Paintings

Materials

Oil

Self Portrait (Blue Hand) By Billy Childish
Self Portrait (Blue Hand) By Billy Childish

Self Portrait (Blue Hand) By Billy Childish

By Billy Childish

Located in Dubai, Dubai

Self Portrait (Blue Hand) By Billy Childish Billy Childish is a British artist, poet, and musician whose raw, expressive paintings and prolific writings reflect themes of authenti...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Self Portrait (Red Hand) By Billy Childish
Self Portrait (Red Hand) By Billy Childish

Self Portrait (Red Hand) By Billy Childish

By Billy Childish

Located in Dubai, Dubai

Self Portrait (Red Hand) By Billy Childish Billy Childish is a British artist, poet, and musician whose raw, expressive paintings and prolific writings reflect themes of authentic...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Artist Reclining - High Atlas Atlas Series

Artist Reclining - High Atlas Atlas Series

By Billy Childish

Located in London, GB

Billy Childish Artist Reclining - High Atlas Atlas Series , 2008 On verso Oil and Charcoal on Canvas 28 x 48 cm 11 x 18.9 inches Billy Childish’s emotional, introspective portraits ...

Category

Early 2000s Contemporary Billy Childish Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Charcoal, Oil

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Billy Childish paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Billy Childish paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of David Harper, Colin Graeme Roe, and Simon Ledson.