Charlie White (artist)

Charlie White (born 1972, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a Los Angeles-based artist.

White received his BFA in 1994 from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and received his MFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, in 1998. He is a professor at the Roski School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Background

White grew up in Philadelphia. He was educated at the high school for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), in Philadelphia. While a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York, he worked as an assistant to artists Laurie Simmons and Carroll Dunham and studied with Marilyn Minter.

White moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to attend the Art Center College of Design, where he studied with artists Steven Prina and Christopher Williams, and received his MFA in 1998. While a student, White created the project Femalien, which was published in CHERI magazine. The magazine was sold at an exhibition at the Andrea Rosen Gallery in November/December of 1996.

History of works 1999–2008

White's photographs explore America’s social fictions and tensions in identity and perception. White’s earlier works were influenced by photographers Gregory Crewdson and Jeff Wall, as in his first photographic series In a Matter of Days (1999) and Understanding Joshua (2001). These play on reality and fiction.

In 2003 White exhibited And Jeopardize the Integrity of the Hull (2003), a series of eleven photographs that look at religion, entertainment, privacy, and pop culture.

In 2006 White exhibited "Everything is American" a series of works looking at collective trauma and national anguish, such as the Manson Family murders in 1969 and the 1978 Jonestown massacre.

In 2008 White exhibited Girl Studies, a series consisting of a 35mm short film titled American Minor, an experimental animation titled OMG BFF LOL, and a series of new photographs.

Exhibition history

White’s work has been exhibited in the Center of Contemporary Art of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; ZKM Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany; Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, China; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Oberösterreichisches Landesumuseum, Linz, Austria; Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; and ICA Philadelphia, PA.

White was included in Art in America NOW at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art. White’s work was included in The Puppet Show at the ICA Philadelphia and The Old Weird America at Houston Contemporary Art Museum, and it will be included in Nine Lives: Visionary Artists in Los Angeles, curated by Ali Subotnik, at the Hammer Museum in March 2009.

White’s film American Minor was shown at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Charlie White is represented by Brändström Gallery, Stockholm; Loock Gallery, Berlin; and fa Projects, London. From 1999–2006, White exhibited with Andrea Rosen in New York.

Publications

About White’s work:

• Hysteric Four, 1999, Hysteric Glamour Japan. (limited edition)
• Charlie White Photographs, 2001, Goliath Books Germany.
• And Jeopardize the Integrity of the Hull, 2003, TDM Paris. (limited edition)
• Charlie White, 2006, DOMUS ARTIUM Spain. Exhibition Catalog, essays by Jan Tumlir.
• Monsters, 2007, Powerhouse Books. Essay by Sally O’Rielly, with an interview by Benjamin Weismann.
• American Minor, 2009, JRP | Ringier. Essays by Christoph Doswald and Dorothea Strauss.

Music videos

Charlie White created a music video for the band Interpol in 2004 for the single "Evil", from the album Antics. He also directed the lead single for the band's 2010 self-titled release, "Lights".

Charlie White took part in the 2006 Adicolor web campaign, which invited young directors to make a short web film based on a color. White selected the color pink, and worked with musician Greg Weeks.

External links

• Official website
• New York Times: a short story by Charlie White