the sudden wren or painting lessons for poets and other mediochur cunts

by Billy Childish

A collection of poetry published on the occasion of the exhibition darkness was here yesterday at Carl Freedman Gallery, London in 2013.

Genres: Poetry

130 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Born Steven John Hamper, he is a cult figure in America, Europe and Japan. Billy Childish is by far the most prolific painter, poet, and song-writer of his generation. In a twenty year period he has published over 40 collections of his poetry, recorded over 100 full-length independent LP’s and produced over 2000 paintings.
Billy Childish left Secondary education at 16, an undiagnosed dyslexic. Refused an interview at the local art school he entered the Naval Dockyard at Chatham as an apprentice stonemason. During the following six months (the artist’s only prolonged period of employment), he produced some six hundred drawings in ‘the tea huts of hell'. On the basis of this work he was accepted into St Martin’s School of Art to study painting. However, his acceptance was short-lived and before completing the course he was expelled for his outspokenness and unorthodox working methods. With no qualifications and no job prospects Childish then spent some 12 years ‘painting on the dole’, developing his own highly personal writing style and producing his art independently.

Reviews

[Hosho · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you don't know Childish and you like Bukowski...you should probably check out Childish. I dig them both, so yes, I am biased -- but as creators, not just of poetry, not just of novels, but of paintings and just generally living an artistic life while never becoming enamored with themselves or the artistic life, you could certainly do a lot worse than Bukowski and Childish. And Billy makes music and even sculpture on top of it all. I consider both to be inspirations, and recommend them to anyone who has even a passing thought that they might be interested in their work!