Jillian Whitney

“Study of Other Duties as Assigned” expands on an 11”x14” gouache painting and is 24’x6’. This drastic shift in scale allows more detail, providing additional context while exploring how size relates to viewer impact and invites them into the artwork’s physical space. Ultimately, I plan to create a second panel at this size that will be hung directly opposite this one. With a 5’x6’ end panel, the three in conjunction will create a “hallway” where the viewer can walk in this artificial forest. The forest is a common trope in fairytales, traditionally representing space hosting an allegorical danger. I allude to this environment through the use of fantastical color and repetition of forms. In this painting, tension exists between the green, distorted arms, the broken pencils, and the mangled erasers. I use ambiguity to make it unclear which of these things are the victims of violence and which inflict violence.