 BILLY CHILDISH at the INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS
Billy Childish
Unknowable but Certain
Institute of Contemporary Arts
17 February - 2nd May 2010
The ICA is proud to present a major solo exhibition by artist, musician and writer Billy Childish. The artist (who was born in 1959 in Chatham in Kent, where he still lives) is a cult figure with an international following, but this exhibition is the first occasion on which a public institution has attempted to encompass his extraordinary thirty-three year career.
The exhibition will include a gallery of the artist's recent paintings, including still lives with flowers, self-portraits of the artist hill-walking, and works depicting the life and death of the modernist writer Robert Walser. Childish's paintings are highly expressionistic, conveying a sense of the visionary significance that he discovers in objects, places and people.
The exhibition will also contain an important archival component, including a multitude of records, books, pamphlets and posters that have been designed and produced by Childish. This material throws light on his long career, including his activities in rock and roll and poetry, and his role as a publisher and polemicist. It also demonstrates how his life and activities can be seen as a total work of art.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a number of events, including performances, readings and screenings featuring the artist and some of his many collaborators. It is being curated by Matthew Higgs (director, White Columns, New York) and Richard Birkett (curator, ICA), and will be staged concurrently with an exhibition of the artist's paintings at White Columns (March 13 - April 24 2010).
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