Viewing Jack White: THESE THOUGHTS MAY DISAPPEAR

Seven nation art-my.

Jack White opens his first public showing of art this week at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery, bringing a different kind of stagecraft to south London. White is best known for sound, but this major exhibition makes clear that the visual world has always been part of the same restless imagination. Arranged in association with HENI, and curated by Connor Hirst and Jack White, THESE THOUGHTS MAY DISAPPEAR brings together sculptures made with found objects, interactive works, installations and furniture design products.

Arranged in association with HENI and curated by Connor Hirst and Jack White, THESE THOUGHTS MAY DISAPPEAR brings together sculptures made with found objects including interactive works, installations and furniture design products. It is a show built on the art of making, labour and the strange beauty of things built by hand.

Born in Detroit and now based in Nashville, White’s creative world has never stopped at music. Before the records, there was upholstery. White opened his shop, Third Man Upholstery, in 1996, and its language runs through the show: carpentry, assemblage, reappropriation and the potential of everyday materials. Third Man Records would later expand that instinct into a wider creative universe, where sound, image, design and object-making all feed the same mythology.

The exhibition also includes a remake of White’s 2015 sculpture The Red Tree, preserving the original idea of transforming a decaying tree into a striking artwork. Elsewhere, his self-described “Hardware Store Art” draws on inspirations including mid-century modern design, De Stijl, Dada and the Detroit Cass Corridor, weaving together the handmade and functional, and the theatrical.

For anyone who knows White through sound, this is a rare chance to see the visual architecture behind his world-building. Admission is free – so don’t miss it.