We are delighted to have genius savant Billy Childish as one of our Secret Auction artists. Billy is a prolific painter, poet and rocker. He is renowned for his unstoppable creative spirit, constantly working and playing since the late 1970's. He has produced hundreds of records of punk, rock & roll,blues, spoken word, nursery rhymes and garage rock via his litany of bands and musical projects (including the Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways and Wild Billy Childish And The Musicians Of The British Empire - latterly morphed into CTMF), thousands of paintings, sketches and woodcuts, collections of poetry, artistic treatises and a slew of autobiographical and experimental novels (including My Fault, Notebooks Of A Naked Youth and Sex Crimes Of The Futcher).
Billy Childish in his studio
Inspired by Dada, (he notably has a tattoo of Schwitters’ poetry on his left bum cheek) he is a consistent advocate for amateurism and free emotional expression. Childish co-founded the Stuckism art movement with Charles Thomson in 1999, which he left in 2001. Thomson coined the group name from Childish's "Poem for a Pissed Off Wife" (Big Hart and Balls), where he had recorded Tracy Emin's remark to him "Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck! – Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!". Tracy and Billy famously had a turbulent but loving relationship, resulting in a sticky break-up wherein Emin threatened to sue Childish if he didn't stop accusing her of stealing his work, however Emin herself has cited Billy as one of her biggest influences.
Billy Childish, Sitting Amongst Cactus
Since then a new evaluation of Childish's standing in the art world has been under way, culminating with the publication of a critical study of Childish's working practice by the artist and writer Neal Brown, with an introduction by Peter Doig, which describes Childish as "one of the most outstanding, and often misunderstood, figures on the British art scene".
Billy Childish, Birch Wood
We couldn't be more excited to have Billy on board, keep your eyes peeled for which card is his. All of the artwork will be on show at The Other Art Fair between 22- 25 March with the auction taking place both live and online simultaneously on the Sunday in the Saatchi Lounge at Victoria House, Southampton Row, London WC1.