Paintings of a Backwater Visionary

In 1977 a 16 year old Billy Childish purposely smashed his own hand with a 3lb club hammer and walked out of his job as an apprentice stone mason. Over the following three years, he was accepted four times into art schools on the 'genius clause', a provision for students who lack the normal entrance qualifications but show exceptional artistic potential, but was expelled for refusing to paint within the schools. Since then he has produced novels, LPs and more than 2,500 paintings, some of which are collected and explored in this volume.