Nov 22, 2019
Not many people can claim to have had a tv show as a teenager, or a name that is trade marked. Billy the Artist can.
Billy the Artist aka BTA is an artist whose studio is based in the East Village of New York City. He describes his art as what the result might be if Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring and Peter Max all got drunk together. His projects and designs have been seen all over the world for such clients and global brands as Swatch, Viacom, The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Museum, Sony, Smart Car, Suzuki, Hyundai, Toyota, Mountain Dew, MTV, Puma, Microsoft, Chock Full O Nuts, Vans shoes, Cow Parade, Fashion Week Athens and Madrid, Enesco, Goebel and currently the designer of the new Nescafe Dolce Gusto machine world wide.
Mural projects include Woodstock 99, Art Basel Miami, Casa Décor Miami, Delaguarda, The Rio Casino Las Vegas, the Broadway, National, and London productions of the musical RENT. His paintings have hung at the Forbes Gallery as well as other galleries in New York, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Austin, Cleveland, Mexico City, Hamburg, Paris, Carib Fine Art in Curacao, Foxx Galerie Zurich, Minsheng Art Museum Shanghai, Surge Art Fair Shanghai, and The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Billy has been published in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Elle, US Weekly, Juxtapoz, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, and numerous other magazines and newspapers around the globe. He has appeared on MTV, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, TLC, DISCOVERY, 60 MINUTES and other feature programs all over the world.
For the world launch of Billy’s watches for Swatch, he painted a 40x30 foot mural live in front of 30,000 people while 300 foot animated projections of his work adorned the walls of Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy during the Venice Biennale. BTA was also one of the first American artist to be allowed by the Chinese government to paint live on the famous Bund in Shanghai. Philanthropic projects include work with The American Red Cross, Live On NY, The Fresh Air Fund, Covenant House, St. Mary’s Foundation for Children, The JCC of Manhattan, The Breathe Foundation Brazil, and various schools both in the U.S and abroad. Tim and Lydia delve into the philosophy and ideas that drive Billy to make that the work that delights his many clients.