Light Industrial Workshop better know as L-13 is an art space created for the ‘Disruptive Betterment of Culture’. It is an independent contemporary art space in Clerkenwell, London seeking to reinvigorate and subvert pre-conceived ways in which art is considered and produced, blurring the distinctions between art production and exhibition.
The organisation not only represent, but also works in close and long-term collaboration with an distinct group of artists including Billy Childish and James Cauty, who, through multifaceted creative practices, share a fondness for candid social criticism and a betrothed, playful approach to the serious process of making art.
Emblematic of a decision to bring creativity, wit and engagement to the exhibition space itself, and hereditary of a radical utopian ethos, L-13 owes much to a spirit of collaboration, confrontation and ecstatic experience that is more dependent on an anti-art tradition rather than that of fine art. Without pandering to either popularist or elitist strategies, L-13 enables the publishing, production and exhibition of its own artists whilst seeking the critical dialogue and involvement of other like-minded artists, institutions, and commentators.
Billy Childish is an extraordinary and prolific artist. His paintings, woodcuts, poetry, writing and music share a common acerbic honesty that, rather than being nombrilistic, is deeply compelling and idiosyncratic.
Childish’s practice is informed by a tireless curiosity for themes as varied as war, the history and topography of his local and personal environment, social protest, hill walking and religious philosophy. Without the need for validation or approval from the art world, Childish has developed an authentic, independent and defiant position within culture that is admired by many worldwide.
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 (his 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 where he refused to paint in the college, preferring to do so at home.. He was thus expelled for this and other rebelious behaviour before completing the course, but since then, and despite a continued resistance to and from orthodox bodies, he has created a huge and challenging body of work through his own highly personal art practice and philosophy of engagement with life.
Buy Limited Edition Prints
Signed Billy Childish Prints Available for £25
To celebrate Billy Childish’s first exhibition in Hong Kong, Artlyst along with L-13 publishers, are offering a special opportunity for Artlyst reader to invest in high quality prints on archival paper signed and numbered by the artist for just £25 each.
We have a very limited number of three different prints available now.