BILLY CHILDISH

Early Years

Billy Childish was born in Chatham, Kent. His parents split up when he was young and he was also sexually abused by a family friend. After leaving school aged 16 (his dyslexia had been undiagnosed for years) he became an apprentice stonemason at the Naval dockyard in Chatham and, while he was there, produced hundreds of drawings which he used to gain entry to Saint Martin’s School of Art. However, in order to qualify for a grant, he initially attended Medway College of Design in Kent. He was expelled from Saint Martin’s for publishing obscene poetry.

Childish often talks about becoming an “overnight success” aged 50—he was part of a group exhibition at L-13 Gallery and had a solo show at the ICA in 2010.

Billy Childish: Artworks

Combining authenticity and energy, Billy Childish’s expressive, figurative oil paintings convey his surroundings, whether this is the sea, forests, people he knows or self-portraits. Lived experience and his consciousness are often the drivers behind his creative practice. Talking about a 2026 exhibition, Childish discussed shamanic forces entering his consciousness. “They are the energies of nature, the great creation. They want to be painted, so I do as I’m told.”

• Childish produced many works featuring Tracey Emin, including woodcuts and oils of “Billy and Dolli” (his nickname for Emin). The 1983 charcoal piece I’d Rather You Lied, featuring Childish and Emin lying in bed, may refer to something Emin apparently said to Childish when he told her the truth about his infidelities.
• Swimmer and Waterfall (2018) combines two familiar Childish subjects in an oil-and-charcoal work in which the waterfall itself sparkles with vitality.
• Two Clouds and Mountain (2025), uses blue and white effectively to convey reflection, landscape and the iciness of a sun-drenched peak.

Billy Childish: Select Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

• This Is The Universe... Big Isn’t It?, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate (2026)
• keep mojave weird, Lehmann Maupin, New York City (2026)
• the becoming unbecoming, Yi Space, Hangzhou (2025)
• like a god i love all things, Lehmann Maupin, London (2025)
• now protected, I step forth, Lehmann Maupin, Seoul (2024)
• A Rock Poet between the Spiritual and Natural World, He Art Museum, Guangdong (2024)
• Billy Childish: looking at paintings, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate (2023)
• Billy Childish: Spirit Guides and Other Guardians Joining Heaven and Earth, Lehmann Maupin, New York City (2022)
• Billy Childish: The Timeless Present, Neugerriemschneider, Berlin (2020)
• man in the mouth of a cave, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate (2019) 2017
• Billy Childish: Man With Jackdaw, Villa Schöningen, Berlin (2017)
• Billy Childish in Print (A Survey), Rochester Art Gallery (2016) 2015
• billy childish at cactus garden, Galleria Paolo Curti, Milan (2015)
• paintings that change the universe like digging in the gutter with a broken lolly stick, Lehmann Maupin, New York City (2013)
• Frozen Estuary and Other Paintings of the Divine, Hoxton Arches, London (2012)
• I am the Billy Childish, Lehmann Maupin, New York City (2011)
• Billy Childish: Unknowable but Certain, ICA, London (2010)
• Handing the Loaded Revolver to the Enemy: Homage to Vincent Van Gogh, Aquarium Gallery, London (2004)
• Cubitt Gallery, London (1995)

Select Group Exhibitions

• UCA—A Retrospective: Creativity Past, Present and Future, Rochester Art Gallery and Zandra Rhodes Gallery (2023)
• Blue Pink Black, Carl Freedman Gallery, London (2015)
• I Followed You Into the Water, Lehmann Maupin, New York City (2011)
• Infiltrations, L-13 Gallery, London (2010)
• British Art Show 5, City Art Centre, Edinburgh (2000)

Further Reading

• Billy Childish’s Instagram
• Artist profile page at Lehmann Maupin
• 2026 interview in The Times
• 2024 interview in the Guardian

Billy Childish FAQs

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