William Green (action painter)

His work became known following a documentary film featuring his creation paintings by riding a bicycle over a surface saturated with bitumen.

He then studied at Sidcup School of Art from 1952 to 1954, and there he made his first use of bitumen paint after discovering an old tin in his garden shed.

[1] Green was accepted for the RCA in 1954,[1] but as a conscientious objector to National Service, he was imprisoned from January 1955 for three months so was unable to join immediately.

[1] He was then teaching at Luton with John Plumb, and they were invited by the Skoob Group of artists from Cambridge University to make a joint work in front of a large audience.

Green was also invited by students at St Martin's School of Art to give a demonstration of his own brand of action painting.

Green was seen making action paintings by hurling bitumen and paraffin at a primed sheet of board before cycling across the picture, skidding over it in plimsolls and finally scorching the surface with fire.

He produced a work in the central courtyard which he finally set on fire - the smoke rose to the top of the building while students watched from the windows on every floor.

[2] By 1965, Green had withdrawn completely from the art scene, to some extent as a result of negative publicly his work had attracted.