Jack White has opened his first public art exhibition in London, and said that it showcases a side to him that most “people don’t know”.
Dubbed ‘These Thoughts May Disappear’, the exhibition opened today (Friday May 29) at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery. It has been arranged in association with HENI and is set to run until September 13.
Among the pieces on display is a remake of the musician’s 2015 sculpture The Red Tree. That was a project that saw White White paint a dying tree in his garden red.
“It died, I brought it back to life, and it died again, and now we’re bringing it back to life in a fake version of it – a plastic resin version of the tree which is also the height of the room,’ White told Wallpaper. ‘It was very collaborative for me in Nashville, with the team in London and the fabricators in China. To be able to be a director of a concept was really nice.’
Other pieces include upholstered chairs, which come as nods to the musician’s frist job, when he apprenticed as an upholsterer at age 15, and went on to open first shop, Third Man Upholstery, at age 21.
One of the chairs is a reworked Eames chair which he made alongside Hirst – with the artist painting on a piece of leather and White cutting it out and using it to re-upholster the seat.
“I’ve never cut a piece of leather so carefully in my life,” the White Stripes star said in a new video on Instagram, showing off the piece.
Up until now, White’s sculpture and upholstery have largely been confined to private work over the past 20 years, and he told Wallpaper about why it has taken this long for him to have his own exhibition.
“No one had ever really invited or encouraged me [to exhibit my art], so I never really sought it out. I just made work in my own time. Until Hirst said: ‘Why don’t you do a show at our gallery?’” he recalled.
Most of the pieces are made from raw materials White saw around him, and some of which were collected by him in his local Nashville suburb after they were left out for garbage collection – something he did since his childhood in Detroit.
“If you have a truck and it’s big garbage day and you’re in Detroit, you start garbage picking,” he told Wallpaper. “I was taught about the creativity in taking an old piece of furniture that’s headed for the dump and rescuing it and bringing it back to life. It was the first thing I was taught to do with my hands.”
There are over 100 pieces on display at his exhibition, and White has described the collection as showing a side of him that hasn’t been in the public eye previously.
“People don’t know this side of me. I want them to see that this came from a passionate place, in an attempt to try to get somewhere with it,” he added.
To receive updates about the exhibition and find out more details, visit here.
In other Jack White news, the artist recently delivered an epic, hit-filled early set at Coachella 2026. He has also announced tour dates in the UK, Ireland and North America for later this year, including a double header at London’s Eventim Apollo, as well as some shows in Europe. Find any remaining tickets here.
He released two new singles – ‘G.O.D. And The Broken Ribs’ and ’Derecho Demonico’ – earlier this year, before performing them on Saturday Night Live. He also teamed up with SNL host Jack Black for a version of The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’.
The pair of tracks marked White’s first new music since his Grammy-nominated 2024 album, ‘No Name’.
