JOHN M. WHITE
  • Home
  • Works
    • Timeline >
      • 1960's >
        • Dirt Event 1968
        • Boulder Delivery 1969
        • Performance Guides 1969
      • 1970's >
        • Performance Guides 1970
        • Preperation F 1970
        • Wooden Path 1970
        • Los Angeles County Museum of Art Installations & Performances 1971
        • Performance Guides 1972
        • Conceptual Striptease 1972
        • Swat Meet 1972
        • LA Visits SF, San Francisco Art Institute 1972
        • Watts Performances & Installations, Watts Housing Corporation 1973
        • Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art Installations 1973
        • Therapy Notations 1973
        • Golf Course Notations 1974
        • Sandtraps 1975
        • Autobiographical Fantasies 1975
        • Acme John 1976
        • Outdoor Performance Situations 1976
        • Towel Song 1977
        • Black Magic 1978
        • Grinning in Space 1978
      • 1980's >
        • Con Errico 1980
        • Trudeau's Train 1982
        • Couch Plus 1982
        • Barnsdall Survey Jan Baum 1983
        • Rachel In The Vault 1984
        • 2nd Stories 1986
        • Annotated Lipschitz 1988
        • Kern Spin 1988
        • Yard Sales 1989
      • 1990's >
        • Towne & Country 1990
        • Wall For Fidel 1991
        • Pallets and Bales 1993
        • Travelogue 1994
        • Deep Sea Scapes 1999
      • 2000's >
        • Malibou Lake 2000
        • Artifishal Hatch 2004
        • John White's Back 2008
        • Mind Fields 2008
        • 5 x 5 x 5 2009
        • Solimar Beach Elements 2010
        • John White Retrospective Life Lines 2011
        • Good Morning Giacomo 2011
        • Preparation F 2012
        • Conceptual Striptease 2012
        • Birds on Wires 2012
        • Bird Opera 2013
        • Bird Opera 2014
        • Bird Opera With Passing Clouds 2015
        • Bird Opera With Passing Clouds 2016
        • Bird Opera With Passing Clouds 2017
    • Paintings / Drawings >
      • Performance Guides 1969
      • Performance Guides 1970
      • Performance Guides 1972
      • Therapy Notations 1973
      • Golf Course Notations 1974
      • Acme John 1976
      • Outdoor Performance Situations 1976
      • Black Magic 1978
      • Con Errico 1980
      • Trudeau's Train 1982
      • Kern Spin 1988
      • Towne & Country 1990
      • Travelogue 1994
      • Deep Sea Scapes 1999
      • Malibou Lake 2000
      • Artifishal Hatch 2004
      • Mind Fields 2008
      • Solimar Beach Elements 2010
      • Birds on Wires 2012
      • Bird Opera 2013
      • Bird Opera 2014
      • Bird Opera With Passing Clouds 2015
      • Bird Opera With Passing Clouds 2016
      • Bird Opera With Passing Clouds 2017
    • Performances >
      • Dirt Event 1968
      • Boulder Delivery 1969
      • Preperation F 1970
      • Wooden Path 1970
      • Los Angeles County Museum of Art Installations & Performances 1971
      • Conceptual Striptease 1972
      • Swat Meet 1972
      • Watts Performances & Installations, Watts Housing Corporation 1973
      • Autobiographical Fantasies 1975
      • Towel Song 1977
      • Grinning in Space 1978
      • Couch Plus 1982
      • Barnsdall Survey Jan Baum 1983
      • Rachel In The Vault 1984
      • 2nd Stories 1986
      • Annotated Lipschitz 1988
      • John White's Back 2008
      • 5 x 5 x 5 2009
      • Good Morning Giacomo 2011
      • Conceptual Striptease 2012
      • Preparation F 2012
    • Installations >
      • Los Angeles County Museum of Art Installations & Performances 1971
      • LA Visits SF, San Francisco Art Institute 1972
      • Watts Performances & Installations, Watts Housing Corporation 1973
      • Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art Installations 1973
      • Sandtraps 1975
      • Yard Sales 1989
      • Wall For Fidel 1991
      • Pallets and Bales 1993
      • John White Retrospective Life Lines 2011
  • About
    • CV
    • Press
    • Links
  • Contact

John M. White  is a painter, sculptor and performance artist. He has been exhibiting publicly over 40 years. Culturally, politically and aesthetically influenced by the late 60’s, White’s work exemplifies this period of redefinition and experimentation. Throughout his career, he has focused on three major areas of work: performance art, site-specific installations and drawing and painting. 

Although always interdisciplinary , his work is primarily autobiographical in nature and always includes some element of humor. Considered one of the seminal California performance artists, White has staged hundreds of public performances since 1967, and is included in numerous public museum collections, including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum in New York, La Foret Museum in Tokyo, Total Museum in Korea, Seattle Museum, Palm Springs Desert Museum, St. Louis Museum, Oakland Museum and others. He is the recipient of three National Endowment for the Arts grants and has served as a panelist twice. During the city wide exhibition, PACIFIC STANDARD TIME, sponsored by the Getty, White was included in three major exhibitions: Museum of Contemporary Art, curated by Paul Schimmel,  Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions and Pomona.

He was awarded the New Talent Award from LACMA in 1971, CETA Grant in 1979 and Djerassi Fellowship in 1989. Since unofficially retiring from performance art in 1989 (there have been two exceptions "Annotated Lipschitz ," 1991 at the Los Angeles Music Center and "Circa" 1999 at the Armory Center in Pasadena) he has focused on installation and painting. His recent retrospective at the Armory in Pasadena was accompanied by an extensive catalog. Qualified historians may request access to the Smithsonian Institute Archives which has acquired White’s early sketches and notes.