Roger White

Roger White, in his fourth solo show with Rachel Uffner, assembled an eclectic collection of subjects for his latest paintings, from calendars, to typography, to plastic containers—and even a lone pigeon.

Based in Vermont, White has long considered how, in the present, mundane details strive for insight into the future. But the former category—as it persists in visualizing the "everyday" of unknown tomorrows—will attempt to make sense of nonetheless.

The three calendar-themed compositions on view, as White has imagined them, make concrete the concept of faraway dates through pages emblazoned with labels like 'August 2038' [artwork pictured] and 'February 2086.' Such foresight is ambitious, at least, when viewed in 2020—but, like any calendar, its year will come and then go, and then its the latest archival record on file.

Elsewhere, three paintings depicting as many plastic containers all prove witnesses to the passage of time: Because White drew the shapes from observation, their reflective surfaces each offer a temporal record of his efforts. Where lifespan is concerned, however, the original plastic will prevail many times over.

In any case, life through the lens of time must be rendered in abstract and concrete terms, as shown by White's paintings of calendars, fonts, and plastic containers. His works are a way of imagining the everyday realities and objects that will, undoubtedly, occupy the future—much like they do now.