Thank You Notes: A Musical Score for the Whitney Biennial 2024: Even Better than the Real Thing (2024)
ink and colored pencil on paper
commissioned by Whitney Museum of American Art
From the Whitney:
For the 2024 Biennial, JJJJJerome Ellis was invited to create a musical score in response to the sounds, artworks, and spaces of the fully installed exhibition. Ellis has remarked that “gratitude and appreciation is the score”—both the framed drawings and unframed thank-you notes serve as a dedication to the artists and echo components of their work. The formal fragmentation of the shapes and gestures within each thank-you note is rooted in the characteristic layering and remixing of dub music, which the artist credits as an influence through their Jamaican and Grenadian heritage.
photo by Ron Amstutz