Billy Childish

Billy Childish is a British artist who has produced an abundant oeuvre in painting, poetry, photography, film, and music. Born Steven John Hamper in Chatham, Kent, England in 1959, Childish attended St. Martin’s School of Art in London and was friendly with artists associated with the Young British Artist (YBA) movement. Nevertheless, Childish quickly found that his artistic interests were focused on Dada and figurative painting, not on the conceptual work being propounded in British art schools at the time. Though he was eventually expelled from St. Martin’s, Childish continued to paint at home and to make music. 

In 1999, Childish and fellow artist Charles Thomson founded the “Stuckist” art movement, a pro-figurative, anti-conceptual response to the wild success of the YBAs. The duo tried to instill a period of “Remodernism” in contemporary art, an impulse that was partially inspired by Childish’s romantic relationship with conceptual artist Tracy Emin, who once told him, “Your paintings are stuck, you are stuck!” Emin’s nomination for the prestigious Turner Prize in 1997 directly lead to media attention for Childish and Stucksim. However, a philosophical disagreement between Childish and Thomson ended their relationship, and Childish announced his departure from the group in 2001.

Stylistically, Childish borrows heavily from Modern art history, citing the styles and techniques of Fauvist, Impressionist, and Expressionist painters of the 20th century. He is explicit about his personal history of childhood sexual abuse, dyslexia, and alcoholism, themes that surface in his work, as in his 1996 painting The Drinker. Childish has said that he believes practicing art is a way of “expressing your nature” and that all of his work—in poetry, writing, and music as well as visual art—is a direct response to that impulse. A major exhibition of his paintings, writing, and music was held at New York’s alternative art space White Columns in 2010.