License to Kill

The Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) is native to China but was found in Pennsylvania, USA in 2014. Since then, the population of Lanternflies has grown and spread across the American east coast. US residents are encouraged to kill the insect on sight in order to slow its spread. Without claiming a side, the piece interrogates the audience’s morals of killing a creature.

School of Art | Undergraduate Drawing and Painting
Student: Emma Reilly
Faculty: Gabrielle Vitolo
A Spotted Lanternfly is positioned off-center of the canvas and faces the top right corner. Lanternflies have distinctive wings with two layers. The top whitish layer overlaps the lower red layer. Both have black splotches in imperfect circles. On the white wings, the spots condense into a dark section. Meanwhile, the red wings also feature a line of white elongated ovals, which form another black section of the wings. The wings aren’t fully extended and crumple near the Lanterfly’s body. The lower thorax is shown below the wings and is also crushed. Two front segmented legs sprawl out from the insect’s body, near the head. Beneath the Lanternfly is a cool-toned purple shadow. The squished insect is on a creamy background; shades of pink come through the surface. The canvas is small, roughly 8”x10”.
A Spotted Lanternfly, an invasive species, with sprawled-out legs and crushed wings, sits on a creamy background. The canvas is small, roughly 8”x 10”.
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