The artist Billy Apple® was created in 1962, when the New Zealand-born Barrie Bates changed his name, following his graduation from London’s Royal College of Art. Initially part of the generation of British pop artists, Billy Apple® moved to New York in 1964, where the same year he exhibited with Andy Warhol in the seminal American Supermarket exhibition and then rapidly established himself as a key figure in the conceptual art scene. In 1969 he opened Apple, one of the first alternative spaces in New York. By the 80s, Billy Apple® was working in both New Zealand and New York, and in 1990 he returned to Auckland, where he continues to work and exhibit internationally.