About Billy
Continued…from Homepage
Following the great success of the Billy sculpture, McKitterick and Andres kept firmly to the original concept and three years later Billy was introduced to the mass market as Billy – The World’s First Out and Proud Gay Doll. Over the next decade Billy became the world’s first and most famous gay product, a beautifully executed, technically advanced, mass produced doll, punching high above his height of 13 inches / 32cms.
After his US debut in 1997 Billy instantly became a iconic figure and saw himself sold in over 400 stores worldwide. The Billy Concept developed to include Billy´s own website Billyworld, his boyfriend Carlos, his best friend Tyson, the soda Billy Pop, the music CD Out and About With Billy, himself dressed by Alexander McQueen and sixty five other designers and artists for the major exhibition and auction Billy Opens His Closet held at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in Soho, New York, the movies Billy 2000 – Billy Goes Hollywood, The Big Tease and Jeffrey’s Hollywood Screen Trick, the photographic book and exhibition Big Fun With Billy, himself in the Andy Warhol Museum and the Keith Haring Foundation, himself in the Science Museum’s permanent exhibit Making The Modern World and himself as 16 Feet Billy in an art exhibition in London.
Billy was honored to be acknowledged alongside Princess Diana, Ellen DeGeneres and Elton John as one of the ’12 People of 1997’. With a single charity event in 1998 he raised over $425,000 for a major AIDS charity and articles have been written in major international publications such as The Sunday Times, The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Guardian and El Pais, acknowledging Billy as a cultural phenomenon.
Billy has been collected by and exhibited in museums, art galleries and institutions internationally including the Freedom Gallery, London, Throckmorton Gallery, New York, The Science Museum, London, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, The Keith Haring Foundation, New York, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Central Saint Martins – University of the Arts, London, Oakland Museum of Contemporary Art, Oakland and The New York Historical Society Museum and Library, New York.
Billy has been written about and is the subject of several academic essays and book publications including works published by New York University Press and University of Chicago Press.
Today, Billy is highly sought after with editions commanding considerable prices at exhibition and auction.