NEW YORK, NY.- Lehmann Maupin Gallery presents I Am The Billy Childish, curated by Matthew Higgs, on view 3 November, 2011 – 21 January, 2012 at 201 Chrystie Street. A modern day renaissance man, prolific artist, writer and musician Billy Childish is the pinnacle representation of the expression “walking to the beat of his own drum.” Over thirty-five years of continual creative activity, Childish has gained a cult status world-wide writing and publishing over forty volumes of confessional poetry, five novels, recorded over one hundred LPs, and painted several hundred paintings, all the while refusing to conform to the contemporary art world’s standards and placed importance on the market. As a poet, novelist and painter, Childish has explored throughout his work, and often with a startling honesty, his struggles in coming to terms with addiction, abuse, and a childhood spent in a dysfunctional family