black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

Before 1999, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas offered to get me exhibitions, but joining the Stuckists put a kaibosh on all that – because I wasn’t prepared to be controlled.

Billy Childish

I’m going to get a pair of wire-snips, and I’ve also started a new campaign to have blank CDs on jukeboxes so you can play the silence.
BILLY CHILDISH

Campaign Cd Jukeboxes Play Silence
I like being on the margins. You work better there.
BILLY CHILDISH

Better Margins Work
The most challenging work I’ve seen of late is by The British Art Resistance. Their document, ‘A Call for Heroes in an Age of Cowards’, is apt in these days of witless chancers.
BILLY CHILDISH

Challenging Heroes Late Resistance Schnauzers Seen Witness
One of my biggest problems in life has been my inability to lie.
BILLY CHILDISH

Inability Lying Problem
I don’t spend a lot of time working if I can help it.
BILLY CHILDISH

Helping Time Working
We believe in a society in delusion, and if you’re awake and not deluded people tell you you’re mad. That’s why I’m a freak and they’re not. But I’m actually not.
BILLY CHILDISH

Believe Mad People
I gave up drinking lots of whiskey and began to practice yoga and meditation. As a result I am not dead.
BILLY CHILDISH

Drinking Health Yoga
I did not like prizes at school. I didn’t like tests or exams, or the 11+, or O-levels. Later I hated B.A.s and M.A.s. The reason I hated them is that I don’t like being tested, failed or falsely praised by anyone.
BILLY CHILDISH

Levels Reason School Tests
Before 1999, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas offered to get me exhibitions, but joining the Stuckists put a kaibosh on all that – because I wasn’t prepared to be controlled.
BILLY CHILDISH

Exhibition Joining Want
I agreed to co-found the Stuckists to be allowed to say what I wanted, and I left the Stuckists because I didn’t really want to be in them in the first place.
BILLY CHILDISH

Left Place Really Wanted
I loved moustaches. I used to draw myself with one. When I was 14, I was really into war and Van Gogh.
BILLY CHILDISH

Moustache Used War
I’ve always liked New York, as I like towns with an edge and New York has a European feel, so when I came to play music here in the ’80s it was a surprise to me.
BILLY CHILDISH

Country Music Play Towns
Being a fan of authentic Dada, I find today’s art – what I call ‘Bankers’ Dada’ – mind-numbingly dull.
BILLY CHILDISH

Art Challenging Hero Work
Bowie and McCartney arrived, and the biscuits and caviare started and I left immediately. I don’t like shouting across rooms, with people in shiny suits who look like used-car salesmen.
BILLY CHILDISH

Cars Looks People Shouting
I think that the mythology of Van Gogh’s life, and the beauty of his paintings, is unstoppable.
BILLY CHILDISH

Painting Thinking Unstoppable
Failure is fantastic, because you meet yourself and get to know your limitations. This is how I express myself, and I can’t do it any other way.
BILLY CHILDISH

Fantastic Knows Way

Before 1999, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas offered to get me exhibitions, but joining the Stuckists put a kaibosh on all that – because I wasn’t prepared to be controlled.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

Before 1999, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas offered to get me exhibitions, but joining the Stuckists put a kaibosh on all that – because I wasn’t prepared to be controlled.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Billy Childish Quotes