Wayne White: Homeboy Makes Thirty Years Of Good

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Major Wayne White show at the Hunter is a summer of fun

The oldest things in “Thrill After Thrill: 30 Years of Wayne White,” opening Friday at the Hunter Museum, are White’s comic books, created during his New York years. One of them, “Bad News,” is a story based on his boyhood in Hixson. Then there are series of little “zine” comics, called things like “Geeder.” 

 “I was finding my voice with these,” White said, as Hunter staff and volunteers bustled around the two large rooms, setting up the exhibit. “Everything you try as an artist stays with you.”

And it’s apparent, seeing the huge variety of his work cohering as a retrospective, that from those early comics, to the Emmy-winning production design work for Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, to the abstracts, “history paintings,” “word paintings,” and giant puppets, that he means what he says. Ideas, shapes, and archetypes are revisited and reimagined.

But the strongest overall impression is of a truly “thrilling” creativity that can’t be contained by one medium. From the tiny, robot-like toys made from scraps of leftover materials, to the towering puppets, a sly wit is as work, poking and provoking—even if the aim of the provocation is sometimes just a good belly laugh.

Even after many years living in Los Angeles, White remains a true Southern boy. The Confederate flag pops up as an icon; the “history paintings” examine the Civil War. One the exhibit’s most astounding pieces are the giant puppets of the Lubin Brothers, Charlie and Ira, and their instruments. 

Thrown into the mix, though, are cowboys, Indians, talking floors, squiggly space aliens, a small puppet used for White’s acclaimed Smashing Pumpkins video that he says was inspired directly by the classic animated short A Trip to the Moon, and an Altoids box whose cover art White designed.

Fans of any aspect of White’s work will find something to be thrilled by in this exhibit. “Pee-Wee” designs are well represented, and White’s series of “word paintings,” which he is still doing, include the actual “Maybe Now I’ll Get The Respect I So Richly Deserve.” 

(For those not familiar: White takes found still life, landscape and seascape prints, purchased in thrift stores, and paints words over them. Figuring out what the chosen words have to do with the original images—if anything—is part of the fun of these paintings.)

The Hunter has also scheduled an impressive list of White-related events during the exhibit’s run, including screenings of the documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing, music, lectures and cocktails. (See sidebar for details.) 

You’ve got until Oct. 1 to be thrilled by Wayne White. Honestly, you’ll kick yourself if you miss this one.

A Few Choice Moments With Wayne White

Way back in July 2009, The Pulse did a cover story on Wayne White at the time of the release of his book “Wayne White: Maybe Now I’ll Get the Respect I So Richly Deserve.” At the end of this interview, we asked him, “Would you like to see a show of your work here, in your hometown?” He replied, “Yes! I’d love to have a show at the Hunter. Call them for me, would you?”

Be careful what you wish for. 

A mere eight years later, “Thrill After Thrill: Thirty Years of Wayne White” opens Friday, June 30 at the Hunter and runs through Oct. 1. We caught up with Wayne by phone in his Los Angeles studio to see how he feels about all this.

The Pulse: When you were a kid growing up in Hixson, did you ever visit the Hunter?Wayne White: I do remember a fourth-grade school field trip to the mansion and seeing some modern art which perplexed me.

TP: Given the diversity of your work, how did you decide what to include in the exhibit?WW: It was a little daunting. There are the “hits” that everyone wants to see: the Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Smashing Pumpkins, Peter Gabriel, the pop culture stuff. But I also wanted to find the most representative pieces from each period, the early cartooning, video and TV work, the “word” paintings, the giant puppets, the early paintings…some stuff that never gets shown. I also wanted the exhibit to be about process, so I reserved one area where there’s a reproduction of my studio.

TP: Given your own experiences visiting the museum as a kid, what have you done to make the exhibit accessible for kids?

WW: Kids will love the giant puppets, and we included the early cartoons, sketches and paintings for the kids’ sake. There’s also a workshop area where they can build masks and puppets. [Writer’s note: The Hunter has also scheduled three special events, one for children and two for teens. See schedule listed above.]

TP: After the Wayne-O-Rama year is over, would you like to see the celebration continue somehow?

WW: I’d love to keep the art ball rolling. I’d love to see the Wayne-O-Rama exhibit [ongoing Rossville Ave. installation] extended, and I’m working on a permanent piece of outdoor public art. The whole thing has been a bit of a miracle, really.

TP: So, the really key question: Has this year made you feel you’ve now achieved the respect you so richly deserve?

WW: It has. It totally has. It’s like a 12-year-old boy saying, “One day I’ll come back and be really famous.”

And so he did.

And so he is.

So there.