Jack White to Stage First Major UK Art Exhibition at Newport Street Gallery
Musician and songwriter Jack White will present his first public exhibition of visual art this spring, as Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery prepares to open a show of sculptures, installations and furniture designs drawn from more than two decades of private studio work.
A new exhibition at Newport Street Gallery will reveal a lesser-known side of Jack White.
Opening on 29 May 2026, These Thoughts May Disappear marks the first time the Detroit-born musician has presented his visual art to the public. The show runs until 13 September 2026 and will bring together sculptures, installations and functional design objects produced across more than twenty years of studio work.
White is widely recognised as a songwriter and performer, but his practice has long extended beyond music. Before achieving international fame he ran an upholstery business in Detroit called Third Man Upholstery, and the practical skills he developed there still shape the way he approaches objects and materials.
The exhibition focuses on works assembled from everyday components. Pieces incorporate plywood, metal, epoxy resin, paint and found items, reflecting an approach White has described as “hardware store art”. Rather than carving forms from a single material, many of the sculptures are built up through layers of additions and attachments.
Several works also blur the line between sculpture and design. Furniture pieces appear alongside sculptural constructions, suggesting the influence of mid-century modern interiors as well as the industrial landscape of Detroit, where White grew up.
One of the exhibition’s centrepieces will be a new version of The Red Tree, first created in 2015. The work transforms a decaying tree into a constructed artwork, preserving the original idea while adapting it for the gallery context.
White’s visual interests have often surfaced through his wider creative projects. Through his independent label Third Man Records, founded in 2001, he has overseen graphic design, photography, interiors and industrial design connected to music production and vinyl culture. The exhibition places those impulses within a gallery setting for the first time.
The show has been organised in association with HENI and developed in collaboration with Damien Hirst, whose gallery opened in south London in 2015 to present works from his own collection and artists he admires.
Housed in a series of converted Victorian buildings designed by Caruso St John, the gallery contains six exhibition spaces across two levels. Since opening, it has hosted presentations ranging from works by Hirst himself to exhibitions by contemporary painters and sculptors.
Jack White: These Thoughts May Disappear
Newport Street Gallery
29 May – 13 September 2026
Tuesday–Sunday, 10am–6pm
Admission free
More information:
https://www.newportstreetgallery.com/
Featured image: Jack White in the studio, photographed by David James Swanson © The Artist; Jack White, God’s Smuggler (1996), Plywood, wood, metal, plastic, lacquer, epoxy resin and latex paint, 44 x 36 x 7 in. (111.8 x 91.4 x 17.8 cm), photographed by David James Swanson © The Artist
Elena Leo is the Culture & Lifestyle Editor of Ikon London Magazine.
