Pop artist Billy Apple and his neon sculptures are the subject of this 1966 documentary by British film maker Midge MacKenzie. Billy Apple was the alter-ego of New Zealander Barrie Bates, a pioneering conceptual artist who was part of New York City’s emerging avant-garde art scene. With his hair and eyebrows bleached platinum blond, Bates stood out even among the hipsters and artists of the early 60s.

I sat down with a pen and paper and thought up all these different names. And Billy Apple was the one that stood out. It was young and fresh. It wasn’t like Adam Apple which referred to history. Billy Apple was about Coca-Cola more than Adam and Eve.”

Apple was one of the first artists to see the sculptural possibilities of neon and had several major exhibits of his work, including “Apples to Xerox” and “Neon Rainbows.” His creations combined fluorescent tubing often with silk screens and sculpted objects like apples.

“Neon is the purest, hippest color in the world; Day-glo phosphorescent paint looks 1929-ish next to it.”
 
The documentary includes an interview with Tom Wolfe and brief peek at Nico and The Velvet Underground.
 

 
Via Afflictor.com