Ken White exhibition at The Little Gallery

A renowned, respected and admired muralist, creator of ‘Cream’ magazine covers of some of rock’s greats, and also a painter of notable works, particularly of his home town – Swindon. Ken White died on Christmas Eve last year and the exhibition at The Little Gallery is the first major retrospective devoted to him.

Acclaimed by Richard Branson as “one of the most extraordinary, creative artists of our time”, it was Ken who created the ‘Scarlet Lady’ that adorned Virgin Atlantic aircraft. And to many, that became the symbol of Virgin.

Ken White was Swindon. Starting put in the Great Western Railway works heating rivets, he soon transferred to the signwriting department where he learned the trade in gold leaf and stencil that would shape everything he later painted. It was an apprenticeship in a guild tradition of craftsmen who took a commission, worked it to the scale the wall demanded, and moved on without signing their name — and it is a tradition White followed for the rest of his working life.

His murals were famous, taking over many a wall and making those big expanses places to visit, view and admire. But there was also Ken’s other art, his painting which took up much of his life.

Grant Ford of Winsor Birch and The Little Gallery notes: ‘Behind the public walls, White quietly made the studio work he cared about most: unsentimental, sombre-toned paintings of the riveters, signwriters and railwaymen among whom he had grown up, alongside a lesser-known body of intellectually ambitious drawings from the 1970s that took on laboratory experimentation and animal welfare, and a lifelong fascination with ancient Egypt and the figure of Akhenaten. Recognition for this side of his work came late and this retrospective continues that overdue reappraisal, setting the deceptive, illusionistic walls beside the truthful studio canvases so that, for the first time, the whole of the man behind both comes into view.’

We were fortunate to cover the unveiling of a painting that Ken donated to Prospect Hospice, two years ago in thanks for (and recognition of) Prospect’s help for Ken’s brother in his final days

The exhibition at The Little Gallery runs from 23 July to 12 August, open Monday-Saturday 10am to 4pm.