Billy Childish
23 Feb - 30 Mar 2013
BILLY CHILDISH
Animal totems, lying poets and other mundane renditions in paint
23 February - 30 March 2013
Animal Totems
Lying Poets
and
Other
Mundane Renditions
in
Paint
"... the poets lie too much" - Frederick Nietzsche
I believe that all of our personal and collective pasts are available to us in the present. Quite often elements from drawings and paintings I made back in the 60's and 70's pop up in my work.
When I was a kid I was given a book of cave paintings for my 7th birthday. From then up until I was 13 I carefully copied them into my school exercise books.
In 1980 I went back to St Martins School of Art for my 2nd innings*. My friend Canadian Pete** gave me a copy of Erections Ejaculations and Tales of Ordinary Madness by Charles Bukowski, "you might like this" he said. Via Bukowski I tracked back through the novels of John Fante, Knut Hamsun, Dostoevsky and Gogol. I've found that the further back you go into an artist's influences the closer you come to the essence. In effect the stronger someone's perceived influence is, the more vital and contemporary their work is.
Origin is 'original', not the contemporary obsession with striving for notions of personal originality.
bowed and rampent
before
cunt
universe
and
god
i dont belong to you
or
this day
i
belong to
my children
and
sweet dust
to
gods plants
and
bursting fruets
to
nuts
seeds
and
jissim
to mud eliments
to burnt sticks and gods paints
to love
and cock strong tradition
bowed and rapent
before
cunt
universe
and
god
but not you
Billy Chyldish, February 2013, Los Angeles
*Chyldish was accepted at St Martin's School of art in 1977, attended in 1978, again in 1980 and expelled in 1981
** Peter Doig
Animal totems, lying poets and other mundane renditions in paint
23 February - 30 March 2013
Animal Totems
Lying Poets
and
Other
Mundane Renditions
in
Paint
"... the poets lie too much" - Frederick Nietzsche
I believe that all of our personal and collective pasts are available to us in the present. Quite often elements from drawings and paintings I made back in the 60's and 70's pop up in my work.
When I was a kid I was given a book of cave paintings for my 7th birthday. From then up until I was 13 I carefully copied them into my school exercise books.
In 1980 I went back to St Martins School of Art for my 2nd innings*. My friend Canadian Pete** gave me a copy of Erections Ejaculations and Tales of Ordinary Madness by Charles Bukowski, "you might like this" he said. Via Bukowski I tracked back through the novels of John Fante, Knut Hamsun, Dostoevsky and Gogol. I've found that the further back you go into an artist's influences the closer you come to the essence. In effect the stronger someone's perceived influence is, the more vital and contemporary their work is.
Origin is 'original', not the contemporary obsession with striving for notions of personal originality.
bowed and rampent
before
cunt
universe
and
god
i dont belong to you
or
this day
i
belong to
my children
and
sweet dust
to
gods plants
and
bursting fruets
to
nuts
seeds
and
jissim
to mud eliments
to burnt sticks and gods paints
to love
and cock strong tradition
bowed and rapent
before
cunt
universe
and
god
but not you
Billy Chyldish, February 2013, Los Angeles
*Chyldish was accepted at St Martin's School of art in 1977, attended in 1978, again in 1980 and expelled in 1981
** Peter Doig