Surreal moment as new artwork unveiled across from Whitney Museum

On Mon., March 2, a work by artist Jill Mulleady went on view on the facade of 95 Horatio St. at Washington St., sponsored by the Whitney Museum and High Line Art.

The 2009 painting, “We Wither Time Into a Coil of Fright,” is reproduced as a 17-foot-by-29-foot vinyl print.

Mulleady was born in Uruguay in 1980 and lives and works in Los Angeles. She is known for her representational painting, frequently large scale, that combines real and invented sources, while often reflecting on the history of art.

Mulleady draws upon her interest in Norwegian painter Edvard Munch as a creative springboard for her surreal world-making. Her moody use of color further emphasizes this notion of existential isolation, which she sees as prevalent in this era of digital technology and the ubiquitous smartphone.

The Whitney’s Jane Panetta is the curator of the ongoing series of public-art installations that have been presented at the spot, across the street from the Whitney and the High Line, since 2015. This is the ninth artwork in the collection to be displayed so far.

“The dialogue between repurposing art history and decidedly contemporary references in Mulleady’s work,” Panetta said, “allows for a unique recontextualization and presentation of the pressing realities of our current world, notably those of personal vulnerability and angst.”