Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childishis an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has led and played in bands including the Pop Rivets, Thee Milkshakes, Thee Headcoats, and the Musicians of the British Empire, primarily working in the genres of garage rock, punk and surf...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth1 December 1959
helping i-can ifs
I don't spend a lot of time working if I can help it.
car people looks
Bowie and McCartney arrived, and the biscuits and caviare started and I left immediately. I don't like shouting across rooms, with people in shiny suits who look like used-car salesmen.
brother names age
When I was better known than her, she put my name in that tent. I was asked to do Celebrity Big Brother, but why should I? We live in an age where fame is not related to what you do.
art hero challenging-work
Being a fan of authentic Dada, I find today's art - what I call 'Bankers' Dada' - mind-numbingly dull. The most challenging work I've seen of late is by The British Art Resistance. Their document, 'A Call for Heroes in an Age of Cowards', is apt in these days of witless chancers.
real communication people
People could live very happily without the Turner Prize, but they could not live without real communication and emotion.
destiny realization facts
We are not actually in charge of life, yet we behave as if we are the masters of our own destiny. The realization of this fact is quite a hard one. The ridiculousness of our pomposity and presumption can only result in anger or humor.
margins
I like being on the margins. You work better there.
perfection people trying
I'm not trying to achieve perfection. I don't like this forced control people have over work.
cds play silence
I'm going to get a pair of wire-snips, and I've also started a new campaign to have blank CDs on jukeboxes so you can play the silence.
thinking painting unstoppable
I think that the mythology of Van Gogh's life, and the beauty of his paintings, is unstoppable.
jobs sunday dinner
I make sure I make a painting - that's my job. And I cook the Sunday dinner.
home talking ideas
I like feeling at home and knowing people. I like talking about ideas and being friendly.
cutting men mustache
A moustache to a man is the same as a fringe is to a woman. When you've got it, you want to grow it out; when you've grown it out, you want to cut it.
art sick boring
I coined this term 'freedom thru limitation' back in the '90s because I was sick of art being treated like pop, because of this boring 'anything can be art' theory.