Billy Apple in New York | Talk with Mary Apple

Billy Apple (1935–2021) left Aotearoa New Zealand for London to study at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 1962 as one of the British Pop generation. In 1964 he moved across the Atlantic where he quickly established himself in the New York art scene.

His works were included in Bianchini Gallery’s famous 1964 exhibition The American Supermarket, a key moment in the story of Pop art, alongside the likes of Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Works by both artists are currently being exhibited in Pop to Present: American Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Apple made significant contributions to art historical movements beyond Pop, including Light, Conceptual, Institutional Critique and Installation art.

Join Senior Curator, Global Contemporary Art, Natasha Conland in conversation with Billy’s wife Mary Apple, to hear stories about the artist’s time in New York and his association with the Pop art movement of the 1960s. You will be encouraged to participate in a Q & A following the discussion, with refreshments served in the Members Lounge.

Natasha Conland is Senior Curator, Global Contemporary Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. She has over 20 years’ experience developing exhibitions of contemporary art and has written for several contemporary arts journals and catalogues in the Asia-Pacific region. She co-edited Reading Room, a peer-reviewed journal of contemporary art published annually by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2006–18. She has a long interest in performance, art in public space and the dissemination of the historic avant-garde.

IMAGE: Billy Apple®, Motion Picture Meets the Apple, 1963, offset lithograph, Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 2012 | Natasha Conland