A History of the Brand

Billy Apple

31 May 2009
13 Sep 2009

The artist Billy Apple® was born in 1962, when the New Zealand born Barrie Bates changed his name and created a new artistic persona, whilst still a student at London’s Royal College of Art. Initially part of the generation of British pop artists, Billy Apple® moved to New York in 1964, where the same year he exhibited with Andy Warhol in the seminal American Supermarket exhibition and rapidly established himself as a key figure in the conceptual art scene. In 1969 he opened Apple, one of the first alternative spaces in New York. By the 80s Apple was working in both New Zealand and New York, and he returned to Auckland in 1990 where he continues to work and exhibit international

Enlarge

Billy Apple, For Sale, 1961 - Source: wdw.nl

With:
Billy Apple

His exhibition in Witte de With’s galleries will comprise two parts, opening four weeks apart.

The first instalment of the exhibition, titled Billy Apple®: A History of the Brand, opens on Saturday 30 May.

Since changing his name, Billy Apple® has developed a body of work that records his gradual transformation from an individual artist into a brand. The culmination of this process occurred in 2008, when he succeeded in registering his name as a trademark. Occupying the 3rd floor of Witte de With, this exhibition will present works from Billy Apple®’s inception through to today, tracing a practice that has remained ahead of its time in analysing and incorporating the marketing of art. Drawing upon the language of advertising and finance, the works presented will include the timely series Paid, (1987) whose tag line reads: “The artist has to live like everybody else”.

The second part of the exhibition, titled Billy Apple®: Revealed/Concealed, will open on Thursday 25 June.

For this project, Billy Apple® will transform Witte de With’s 2nd floor, as part of a new commission that evokes his series of architectural interventions and his ongoing institutional critique. For example, in 1980, for his exhibition Censure at Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, Billy Apple® painted red the elements of the gallery that did not meet his exacting standards. Having corrected the imperfections of Witte de With’s spaces, Billy Apple® will install a selection of related works.

The two-part exhibition extends into public space with a series of billboard commissions, created in collaboration with Sculpture International Rotterdam. These will see Billy Apple®’s designs installed on a large scale, inserting themselves into the visual fabric of the city. Together, this will be Billy Apple®’s biggest survey to date and is just the 2nd time he has exhibited in The Netherlands, following the group show Kunstlichtkunst, at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, in 1966.