Haricot Gallery is thrilled to present Ollie White’s debut solo exhibition, Something Borrowed, running from 5th to 27th September. 
 
The exhibition explores the quiet, psychological space between object and meaning through the recurring motif of shoes in boxes. Across these works, White continues his practice of incorporating found imagery into the fictional space of painting, giving familiar forms new significance. 
 
The shoes are not simply artefacts; they become bodies, characters, or gestures within a scene. By placing them in boxes, White creates an anthropomorphic tension — the box becomes a container, a room, a stage, or a frame for lived experience. Materiality plays a vital role: the delicate folds of tissue paper surrounding the shoes generate a terrain of light and shadow, adding depth and atmosphere. White’s works are not still lifes but emotive portraits shaped by observation, memory, and imaginative reconstruction — exploring themes of isolation, intimacy, and care. 
 
In Something Borrowed, the boxed shoes hint at hidden lives and untold stories. They transform everyday objects into carriers of memory, suggesting subtle dramas and gestures that evoke both human presence and its traces. These works encourage reflection on how simple forms can hold emotion, desire, and the quiet poetry of lived experience.
 
 
Ollie White lives and works in London. He holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London (2024), a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2023), and completed a Foundation in Art & Design at UAL Camberwell, London (2020). Group exhibitions include Tube Culture Hall, Milan (2025); Cub_ism _Artspace, Shanghai (2024); You Can Sit With Us, Haricot Gallery, Shoreditch, London (2024); Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (2024); Able-graphy, Liverpool Street, London (2024); Shoreditch Arts Club, Shoreditch, London (2023); Goldsmiths Degree Show, New Cross, London (2023).