The ICA will be the first major public gallery to host an extensive exhibition of Billy Childish's prolific works.
Read Lauren's interview with Billy Childish.
The ultimate hyphenate-persona, Billy Childish brings the aptly titled Unknowable but Certain to the ICA from February. Prolific painter, poet, song-writer and guitarist with over 100 full-length independent LPs, 40 published poetry books, four novels and 2500 paintings to his name, an avid advocate for amateurism, (former) sucker for Stuckism, and shunner of the commercial art scene (the list could go on), vociferous – dare we say – misunderstood Childish has become something of a cult figure.
From February, the ICA will be the first public institution to host a solo show uniting Childish's seemingly inexhaustible bank of talent in a single exhibition. The collection will be a culmination of over three decades' worth of material across a range of media and looks set to be pretty unforgettable, and to leave the average Joe Public feeling terribly inadequate.
Recent paintings take centre stage in the lower gallery where Childish's deliberate rejection of conceptualism and the contemporary art world is immediately obvious. The painterly expressionism of his works enable him to consider the world through utterly subjective eyes. Childish's personal and emotional engagement seeps into the self-portraits, bold still-life compositions, and in particular in his painting of Swiss modernist writer Robert Walser lying dead in the snow.
In the upper gallery, the ICA turns its attention to Childish's prolific and extensive career as musician and writer. Taking 1977 as a starting point, this part of the exhibition lays a contextual framework in which the recent paintings can be interpreted and understood. One room focuses on Childish as pioneering a cross between punk and blues, and with an endless list of collaborations and bands, his staunchly independent stance appears to inform and nurture his artistic production. Another room features books, pamphlets, polemical and campaign literature produced by Childish. Personality percolates in abundance in the more self-reflective poetry and prose works also on display.
Self-taught, self-confessed 'amateur' with conviction and eccentricity, this no-doubt exceptional exhibition will be the proof of the pudding; Unknowable but Certain: Childish most certainly is.
Billy Childish - Unknowable but Certain is at the ICA from 17 February- 18 April 2010.
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Image credit: Masao Nakagami via Wikipedia.
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