Wayne White (3)

Wayne White is an American visual artist, set designer, art director, illustrator, puppeteer. Born and raised in Chattanooga, Wayne has created works for film, television, and the fine art world. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University, Wayne traveled to New York City where he worked as an illustrator for the East Village Eye, New York Times, Raw Magazine, and the Village Voice. In 1986, Wayne became a designer for the hit television show Pee-wee's Playhouse, and his work was awarded with three Emmys. After traveling to Los Angeles with his wife, Mimi Pond, Wayne continued to work in television and designed sets and characters for shows such as Shining Time Station, Beakman's World, Riders In The Sky, and Bill & Willis. He also worked in the music video industry, winning Billboard and MTV Music Video Awards as an art director for music videos including The Smashing Pumpkins' 'Tonight, Tonight' and Peter Gabriel's 'Big Time.' More recently, Wayne has had success as a fine artist and has created paintings and public works that have been shown over the world. His works include paintings featuring oversized, three-dimensional text painstakingly integrated into vintage landscape reproductions. Wayne has also done public works, including a show at Rice University where he built the world's largest George Jones puppet head for a piece called 'Big Lectric Fan To Keep Me Cool While I Sleep.' In 2009, Wayne's life and career were chronicled in a 382-page monograph, edited by Todd Oldham. The book features hundreds of images from Wayne's earliest work as an illustrator all the way to his most recent fine art sculptures. Since the book's release, Wayne has been traveling the US delivering an hour long talk where he discusses his life and work, while making time for banjo and harmonica playing. There is a documentary about the Wayne Wright, called Beauty is Embarrassing.