Genesis The Exodus to the Ark 2013

Joe Machine made this painting, Genesis The Exodus to the Ark, with paint on canvas. It’s all about storytelling, right? Look at how he simplifies form but emphasizes clarity. The colors aren't mixed so much as laid on next to each other, giving this incredible depth of color and texture. There’s a real physicality to the medium, it feels like you could reach out and touch it. There is a roughness in how the sky is rendered. What I find interesting is the flat stylised manner of the figures versus the slightly more sculptural rendering of the animals at the front. It reminds me a little of Redon’s dreamlike painting, maybe, or even the work of Paula Rego, who also plays with narratives. Machine’s vision, like theirs, invites us to reflect on how we all construct different ways of seeing and experiencing the world. Like all great art, it embraces ambiguity.