Billy Apple was born Barrie Bates in New Zealand in 1935 and is associated with the New York and British schools of Pop Art in the 1960s and the Conceptual Art movement in the 1970s. He immigrated to Britain in 1959 to study at the Royal College of Art, London and changed his name to Billy Apple in 1962, constructing a new character to complement his new identity. In 1964 Apple moved to New York, before returning permanently to New Zealand in 1990.
Billy Apple was born Barrie Bates in Auckland, New Zealand, on 31 December 1935. He left school without any qualifications and took up a job as a paint manufacturer's assistant in 1951, also attending evening classes at Elam School of Fine Art in Auckland, where he met Robert Ellis, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London. In 1959, he received a National Art Gallery scholarship and left New Zealand to study at the Royal College of Art in London. He frequently exhibited in the Young Contemporaries and Young Commonwealth Artists exhibitions during this period, alongside artists including Frank Bowling and Jonathan Kingdon; he graduated in 1962. Following graduation, he created a new identity and character, bleaching his hair and changing his name to Billy Apple. He held his first solo show in London, Apple Sees Red: Live Stills, in 1963.
In 1964, he immigrated to the USA, holding the exhibition, The American Supermarket at Paul Bianchini's Upper East Side gallery, in collaboration with Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Tom Wesselmann, Jasper Johns, Mary Inman, James Rosenquist and Robert Watts. Apple's early work was mainly pop-related; he was one of the pioneers of neon, exhibiting works such as Apples to Xerox (1965) and Neon Rainbows (1965) at Bianchini Gallery, and in 1967, he showed a collection of neon light sculptures under the title Unidentified Fluorescent Objects, at Howard Wise Gallery. In 1969, he created 'APPLE', the second of New York's seven original not-for-profit alternative exhibition spaces at 161 West 23rd Street. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, his work became more conceptual. He exhibited at various museums, dealer galleries and alternative art spaces around New York, including the Guggenheim, the New Museum, Leo Castelli, Bianchini, Howard Wise Galleries, 3 Mercer Street, Holly Solomon and the Clocktower, and in 1975, he became director of 112 Greene Street Gallery. In 1974, the Serpentine Gallery, London, held the first major retrospective of his work, From Barrie Bates to Billy Apple, bringing together his pop and conceptual art pieces. In the 1980s he decided to focus on the economics of the art world, shifting from purely producing installations to text-based pieces. His 1980 exhibition Art for Sale at Peter Webb gallery showcased art works made out of receipts for payments he received for his art. He later produced the series Transactions, highlighting the network of relations that operates between the artist, the dealer and collections.
In 1990, Billy Apple decided to return permanently to New Zealand, settling in Auckland. In 2007, he trademarked 'Billy Apple', formalising his art brand status and in 2008, he was the subject of a feature-length documentary called Being Billy Apple, produced by Specific Films and directed by Leanne Pooley. In 2009, Adam Art Gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, launched the survey exhibition Billy Apple: New York 1969-1973. Later in 2009, Withe de With Centre for Contemporary Art in Amsterdam presented a major exhibition in two parts: Billy Apple: A History of the Brand and Revealed/Concealed, with Billy Apple: British and American Works 1960–1969 at The Mayor Gallery, London in 2010) and a major retrospective at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in 2015. He is currently working on collaborative scientific research projects, including the viral transformation of his blood cells into the 'Billy Apple Cell Line' and the entire sequencing of his genome.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Billy Apple]
Publications related to [Billy Apple] in the Ben Uri Library