Artist, author, poet, songwriter, photographer, filmmaker... It's fair to say that Billy Childish is a multi-talented guy.

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.

Born in 1959 in Chatham, Kent. 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. Since then he has fronted numerous bands, published much poetry, exhibited many works of art, and developed into, in the words of artist Peter Doig, 'one of the most outstanding, and often misunderstood, figures on the British art scene'.

At Greenbelt, Billy will be giving away a free limited-edition artwork. Further details to be revealed...