Musician Jack White makes London art exhibit debut

U.S. rocker Jack White makes his art exhibition debut in London this week, showing sculptures, installations and furniture.

"These Thoughts May Disappear", which opens at British artist Damien Hirst's Newport Street Gallery on Friday (May 29), is the first public showing of White's art. On display are colourful sculptures, sofas and chairs, collaborations with Hirst as well as pieces made with things White found.

“So there's lots of different elements in there. The things I was obsessed with, colours I was obsessed with as a young man, and then a lot of furniture that I've worked on in my upholstery shop, which I kind of consider half sculpture, half functioning furniture," White told Reuters.

"A lot of things (were) garbage picked, trash picked, things on the side of the freeway. It's nice to own a truck... so you can throw them in the back.”

Among the elements used for White's works are wooden pallets now painted in bright colours, traffic cones, a plastic construction pylon as well as a children's plastic toy car.  

“I hope that (visitors are) just provoked in some way... inspired by a colour they see or an idea that makes them think about something, even for a second," White said.

Before he found fame as one half of The White Stripes, White learned upholstery as a teenager, and opened his own shop, Third Man Upholstery, in 1996.

“It taught me trade and taught me business sense and an early formation of how to combine art and business together and make it something that when I was younger, I would have considered very uncool or or very, or non-artistic," White said. "But as I grew, I realised that it was important that you find a balance between those two things so that you can keep the train rolling forward.”

"These Thoughts May Disappear" runs until September 13.

-Marissa Davison, Marie-Louise Gumuchian/Reuters