[7] During his time at the RCA, Apple made friends with fellow students Ridley Scott and David Hockney and went on to become one of a new generation of pop artists, which included amongst others, Derek Boshier, Frank Bowling, and Pauline Boty.

Bates conceived a new artistic persona and on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 1962, he bleached his hair and eyebrows with Lady Clairol Instant Cremé Whip and became Billy Apple.

[9] He announced his self-branding name change publicly in 1963 in his first solo show – Apple Sees Red: Live Stills – at Victor Musgrave's Gallery One, London.

– was created by prominent pop artists of the time, including Apple, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Tom Wesselmann, Jasper Johns, Mary Inman, James Rosenquist, and Robert Watts.

Then in 1967, the exhibition Unidentified Fluorescent Objects (UFOs), which showed a collection of neon light sculptures, was held at the Howard Wise Gallery, a fore-runner to the organisation Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI).

Controversy followed when the local fire Department asked for it to be removed[18] and again when O’Reilly arranged for Neon Accumulation to become part of the gallery’s permanent collection[19] Apple was invited to a tour again over the summer of 1979 and 1980.

In 1983 he produced a solid gold apple for former Auckland Coin & Bullion Exchange Director, Ray Smith, valued at $(NZ)85,000 – the most expensive work made by a living New Zealander at the time[21] and a significant precursor to Damien Hirst's 2007 diamond skull titled For the Love of God.

[24] The artist had a long-standing interest and involvement in motor racing, which was acknowledged with two vehicles from his own collection in the 1991 As Good as Gold survey and the accompanying publication.

[29] Later in 2009 the Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art (now known as the Kunstinstituut Melly) in Amsterdam presented a major exhibition in two parts, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen; the first Billy Apple: A History of the Brand, surveyed the artist's entire practice from inception as his own brand to the present day;[30] the second, Revealed/Concealed, focused on his works that critique the site of art through architectural interventions.

[44] He also drew from his early experience in advertising to adapt some of the industry’s collaborative production techniques and began to outsource the making of his own work to highly skilled professionals.

[48] Apple’s longest serving and closest collaborator was Wystan Curnow an art critic, curator and poet who taught at the University of Auckland.

[49] Acting as ‘minder’, advisor, copywriter and commentator,[50] Curnow worked with Apple on the development of ideas and strategies such as The Given as an Art Political Statement,[51] Sold,[52] and The artist has to live like everybody else.

[54] It was also used as the text on a large billboard-sized work in central Rotterdam in 2009 as part of Apple’s two-part survey exhibition at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art.

In recognition of the close collaboration behind its creation and presentation over 35 years, this time a credit line included Curnow’s name alongside Apple’s.

[55][56] The cell lines - named formally after Billy Apple® - are held at the University of Auckland's School of Biological Sciences and the American Type Culture Collection, Virginia, in the United States.

[57][58][59] Writing in Metro magazine, art critic Anthony Byrt opined:[60] 'It's the most complex and radical project Apple has been involved in since the name change.