+ + + WOODLEY + + +

A Woodley White Solo Exhibition
+ Ode to the Tee
Dec 15, 2022 — Jan 15, 2023
Party: Dec 15th, 6 — 8p

For Woodley White, the T-shirt is a generous muse. Within its dependable formula — crew neck, short sleeves, boxy fit — lurks infinite variation. Tees are willowy; tees are squat. They are monochrome, striped, or checkered. Some have sloped sleeves that peek out like snouts, others boast sleeves angular as the wings of an aircraft.

Woodley has drawn thousands of T-shirts, nearly always depicted floating on an otherwise blank paper or envelope, save for a squiggle here or a smudge there, the residue of testing out new crayons. Levitating on the page, the mass produced objects become singular, even holy. Woodley’s cryptic signature — a row of symbols resembling plus signs — are like mystic scripture, inviting you to carefully consider the things you dub ordinary. 

Based in Philadelphia, Woodley draws at Utility Works, with support from his CIS ArtWorks staff, four days a week and at home in his off hours. Art is not just a pastime for Woodley, but the fiber of his life, as essential as cotton to a Hanes classic tee. 

He carries his supplies around in a plastic bag, jumbled amongst bottles of Axe body spray, sandalwood scented oil, toy cars, a plastic recorder, and other ephemera he adopts throughout the day. A trove of finished drawings – marked by wrinkles, bruises, scuffs, and other records of their journey – is also dependably in tow. The representations become relics, and Woodley shepherds them through a neverending pilgrimage. 

In Woodley’s world, no two tops are quite the same. If you sense a direct replica, look closer. Drawn with meticulous attention to line, color, shape, and placement, the tees become as sundry as living beings. Woodley gazes with love and wonder at everyday objects, thus transforming them into totems worthy of his devotion and our attention.