Jack White review – former White Stripe’s art is like a 12-year-old visiting Tate Modern for the first time

Newport Street Gallery, London
White may be a talented musician but as a visual artist, he’s a nonstarter. Not even the collaborations with Ai Weiwei and Damien Hirst can save this show

Nobody can phone it in like a famous conceptual artist. Invited to customise one of rock star Jack White’s amplifiers, Ai Weiwei has inscribed the F-word in buttons of various sizes and colours across its front. It’s a cynical, contemptuous gesture, but also a marvellously louche one, reminding you of the dangerous, nihilistic yet creative spirit that this exhibition of White’s art totally lacks.

White was huge in the 00s as one half of duo the White Stripes, with Meg White, and his solo career is still going strong. Clearly the art world wants to be his friend. This show is on at Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery and its luxurious hardback catalogue includes an interview with him by the uber-curator Hans Ulrich Obrist. Hirst has also customised an amp with – guess what? – a model of a rotting cow’s head. In addition, he has collaborated with White on works featuring other hackneyed Hirst tropes: an eternally floating ping-pong ball and a spin painting.