Billy Apple was born Barrie Bates in Auckland, New Zealand. He studied graphic design at the Royal College of Art, London, where he was considered one of the ‘Young Contemporaries’ alongside David Hockney and David Boshier. Upon graduating in 1962 Bates began exhibiting under the pseudonym Billy Apple – redefining himself as a trademarked brand. Utilising photography, print making, video, neon, sculpture and installation, Apple’s work is largely associated with Pop Art and the conceptualism of the late 1960s and 1970s.
An art movement of the 1950s to the 1970s that was primarily based in Britain and the United States. Pop artists are so called because of their use of imagery from popular culture. They also introduced techniques and materials from the commercial world, such as screen-printing, to fine art practice.