Wayne White I Took The Machine Apart and Put it Back Together
Wayne White’s third solo exhibition with Joshua Liner Gallery, on view from February 8 through March 10, 2018. The exhibition featured White’s signature “word paintings,” works on paper, puppet sculptures, and a gallery-wide installation of doodles and text from his personal notebooks. With this body of work, White shifted from his usual biting humor to a more introspective tone, exploring themes of vulnerability, reflection, and creative disassembly. Each medium, from marionettes to sketch installations, offered a glimpse into the artist’s process, building a cohesive visual narrative about the complexities of artistic expression.
Born in 1957 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Wayne White lives and works in Los Angeles. Widely known for his Emmy-winning set design for Pee-wee’s Playhouse, White’s multidisciplinary career spans television, music videos, fine art, and public speaking. His work has been exhibited widely, including retrospectives at the Hunter Museum of American Art and the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and is included in collections such as the New Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Weisman Art Foundation. The 2012 documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing further cemented his legacy as a boundary-breaking artist whose work blends wit, craft, and cultural critique.
THEY PLUNDERED OUR ART AND THEN WAITED AND WATCHED FROM THE RIDGE AS WE MADE MORE, 2017, Acrylic on vintage offset lithograph, 28 x 52 inches (71.1 x 132.1 cm)
I TOOK THE MACHINE APART BUT COULD NOT PUT IT BACK TOGETHER, 2017, Acrylic on vintage offset lithograph, 29 x 40 inches (73.7 x 101.6 cm)
CUT THE SHIT, 2017, Acrylic on vintage offset lithograph, 25 x 35 inches (63.5 x 90 cm)
All the Stupid Shit I've Said, 2017, Acrylic on vintage offset lithograph, 28 x 34 inches (71.1 x 86.4 cm)
FUBAR, 2017, Acrylic on vintage offset lithograph, 13 x 16 1/4 inches (33 x 41.3 cm)
FAILED ABSTRACT PAINTINGS OF THE SEVENTIES, 2017, Acrylic on paper, 22 x 30 inches (55.9 x 76.2 cm)