About
James White began his career in the early 1990s, coming to the public’s attention at the same time as his fellow YBAs. In 2001, he turned from installation to painting, dedicating himself to producing the finely wrought, luminous black and white oil paintings for which he is well-known today.
His commitment to an apparent tradition of representational painting imbues his work with a fundamental permanence, underscoring the continuity in moments of silence, doubt and repose that have been the subject of art for centuries, whilst profoundly updating its implications.
Painted on aluminium, wood or acrylic, his work has its origin in snapshot photographs taken of his environment both domestically and when travelling—a door that is slightly ajar, a glass of water left on a bathroom sink, a broom leaning against a wall. The objects in the paintings imply a narrative arc that, similar to a cutaway shot in film or a crime scene photograph, create a psychological space for reflection on actions that lie outside the frame.
These moments of everyday life evoke the quietude of paintings by the Flemish masters whilst the distilled forms that inhabit them reflect a more contemporary, ritualised, minimalist sensibility.
Text c/o Sean Kelly Gallery
A Low Sun 2006
Oil and varnish on birch ply in perspex box frame, 85 x 62cm
Biography
Born 1967 in Tiverton, UK
Lives and works in London, UK
Education
1986-1989
Wimbledon College of Art, London United Kingdom
1989-1991
Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2021
James White. Not this time, Galerie Greta Meert, Brussels, Belgium
Conversation/s. James White and Günter Umberg, Fox Jensen Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2020
James White: New Paintings,. Sean Kelly Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
2019
Günter Umberg | James White. Conversation, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2017
BODIES, Blain Southern London, United Kingdom
2016
ASPECT:RATIO, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
Eight, Gerhardsen Gerner, Berlin, Germany
2013
From this position, Gerhardsen Gerner, Oslo, Norway
The Black Mirror, Sean Kelly, New York
And from this Position, Max Wigram, London, United Kingdom
2012
Paintings and Photographs, Siegfried Contemporary, London, United Kingdom
2011
James White, Project B, Milan, Italy
Another Hotel, Gerhardsen Gerner, Berlin, Germany
2010
Max Wigram Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2009
c/o – Gerhardsen Gerner, Berlin, Germany
2008
The Rough With the Smooth, Max Wigram Gallery, London, United Kingdom
c/o – Atle Gerhardsen, Berlin, Germany
2007
Doomed, Max Wigram Gallery, London, United Kingdom
James White – New paintings, The Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas, Texas, USA
2004
United Elements, MW projects, London, United Kingdom
2003
Paintings, Museum 52, London, United Kingdom
2000
Atoll, Fig-1, London, United Kingdom
Paradise, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York
1999
The Incidental Monumental 2, Modern Art, London, United Kingdom
1998
The Incidental Monumental, Tomato Projects, London, United Kingdom
1997
James White & Tim Sheward, Entwistle Gallery, London, United Kingdom
James White & Tim Sheward, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York
1996
Risky Business, Banner Street, London, United Kingdom
1993
James White, Gavin Turk’s studio, London, United Kingdom
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021
Essentials, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2020
Analogue. Fox Jensen McCrory, Auckland, New Zealand
Emotion and Structure, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Deceptive Images—Playing with Painting and Photography, Marta Herford, Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Herford, Germany
BOOKS. An exhibition of books about art and art about books, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2019
Di fuochi e accesi sensi, Galerie Greta Meert, Brussels, Belgium
Indoor Voices, Greystone Industries, Suffolk, UK
2018
EDIFICE, COMPLEX, VISIONARY, STRUCTURE, Sean Kelly, New York
Heads Roll, Graves Gallery, Sheffield, United Kingdom
In Times of Plenty: The Shape of Things Today, Reflex Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Malevolent Eldritch Shrieking, Attercliffe, Sheffield, United Kingdom
NGORONGORO II, Lehderstrasse 34, Berlin, Germany
2017
Malverkasyning, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Island
Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life, Guildhall Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life, Museum Narodowe, Wroctaw, Poland
SELECTED, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
2016
Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life tradition, Konsthallen Bohuslan, Uddervalla, Sweden
WHAT’S UP 2.0, 94 Portland Place, London, United Kingdom
2015
Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still Life, Ha gamle prestegard, Stavanger, Norway
TUTTI FRUTTI, Turps Banana Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2012
Minderwertige Gemälde, Galeria Cadaqués-Huc Malla, Cadaqués, Spain
2013
Dirty Pop, And Model, Leeds, United Kingdom
Revealed 2: Collector Space, Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide, Australia
Viewfinder, Time Sheward Projects, London, United Kingdom
2010
Dawnbreakers, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom
Keep Me Posted, Posted, London, United Kingdom
Realism- The Adventure of Reality, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Netherlands
2009
Realism- The Adventure of Reality, Kunsthalle Emdem und Kunsthalle der Hypo Kulturstiftung, Münich, Germany
2008
Go for it! Art from the Olbricht Collection, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, Germany
2007
All Tomorrows Pictures, ICA, London, United Kingdom
2006
John Moores 24, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom
2005
Chambres à Part, Hotel Sezz, Paris, France
God is bored of us II, FMCG, London, United Kingdom
2004
New Blood, The Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2002
Paintings in Hospitals, The Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2000
4 British Artists, Archimede Staffoloni Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus
Blue, The New Art Gallery, Walsall, United Kingdom
Octoberfest 2000, VTO, London, United Kingdom
Gallery Artists, Casey Kaplan, New York
1999
Cartoons and Comics, Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom
Fun de Siecle, Middlesborough Art Gallery/ Tullie House Museum und Art Gallery, Carlisle/ Walsall Museum und Art Gallery, United Kingdom
1998
Artclub Berlin, Videoforum, Berlin, Germany
1997
Group Show, Entwistle Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Honky Tonk, The Kitchen, London, United Kingdom
1996
Against, Anthony d’Offay Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Fool’s Rain, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) London, United Kingdom
Some of my best friends are Geniuses, Independent Art Space, London, United Kingdom
Video work at the Tramshed, Ridinghouse editions, London, United Kingdom
White & Sheward, Michael Joo, Max Wigram, The Post Office, London, United Kingdom
1993
Lucky Kunst, Silver Place, London, United Kingdom
1992
Jake Chapman, Dinos Chapman, James White, Sam Taylor-Wood, Clove2 Gallery, London, United Kingdom