LA based artist Wayne White has been entertaining the world with his wry wit for decades. With extensive work in a variety of visual mediums, the creator adds another. He has hit the boards of the Coronet Theater with his one man show "Wayne White: You're Supposed to Act All Impressed." The mixed media extravaganza is aptly titled. The show provides a introduction to the mind and manners of this easily likable artist.
Wayne White is best known for his text paintings. Most often, he will find a thrift shop landscape and cleverly layer in his words, maintaining the shade and hue of the commercially produced original. The work is fun, humorous, perverse and profane. He has a history of that.
As a set designer, White has won three Emmys for his staggering work on the television groundbreaker Pee-Wee's Playhouse. His long resume reads like the best of pop culture. White was the set designer of the seminal Georges Melies inspired music video Tonight, Tonight for the Smashing Pumpkins. His recent 382-page monograph Maybe Now I'll Get The Respect I So Richly Deserve was edited by Todd Oldham. Life really doesn't get much cooler than that.
No stranger to performance, White has voiced cartoon characters, designed, directed and produced. He can plunk a banjo and enliven a harmonica. This and more he does for his one man show.
It is difficult to separate the art from the artist. Our affections generally ride with both. You're Supposed to Act All Impressed gives us a chance to meet the man behind the quip and the text. He is as fun, humorous, perverse and profane as his artwork suggests. The evening is a chronological telling of White's life beginning in Tennessee, working in New York and building a life in Los Angeles with his cartoonist wife Mimi Pond.
Art Studies can be a very dull, monotonous affair. Part public relations, part academia, White cuts to the grist of his mill in a way that no art professor can. It is a bold and aggressive venture.
Several weeks ago, the great American artist, George Herms kicked it out with a jazzy-operatic performance at REDCAT. This may be the start of a new trend.
Please call Largo at the Coronet: (310) 855-0350 for the schedule of upcoming Wayne White shows or Click Here for their website.
Click Here to read a fascinating interview with Wayne White and Kimberly Brooks, the Arts Editor of the Huffington Post.
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GORDY GRUNDY is a Los Angeles based artist and writer. His visual and literary works can be found at www.GordyGrundy.com.
