Artist Quotes by Billy Childish

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.…

— Billy Childish

I've dubbed myself as an amateur, not because I work in different field, but because I do what I do for love.

— Billy Childish

I'm not trying to achieve perfection. I don't like this forced control people have over work.

— Billy Childish

Before 1999, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas offered to get me exhibitions, but joining the Stuckists put a kaibosh on all that - because…

— Billy Childish

Being a fan of authentic Dada, I find today's art - what I call 'Bankers' Dada' - mind-numbingly dull. The most challenging work I've…

— Billy Childish

It is an artist's duty to be on the wrong end of the see-saw.

— Billy Childish

A moustache to a man is the same as a fringe is to a woman. When you've got it, you want to grow it…

— Billy Childish

I make sure I make a painting - that's my job. And I cook the Sunday dinner.

— Billy Childish

When I was better known than her, she put my name in that tent. I was asked to do Celebrity Big Brother, but why…

— Billy Childish

I like being on the margins. You work better there.

— Billy Childish

I like feeling at home and knowing people. I like talking about ideas and being friendly.

— 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…

— Billy Childish

I've not been an admirer of contemporary music since punk rock went off the boil in 1977, but once a year I'll listen to…

— Billy Childish

We are not actually in charge of life, yet behave as if we are the masters of our own destiny. The realization of this…

— Billy Childish

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…

— Billy Childish