Genesis The Clothing of Adam and Eve 2014

Joe Machine painted Genesis The Clothing of Adam and Eve with some kind of paint on canvas, and what strikes me first is this really interesting tension between flatness and depth. Look at how the figures seem to emerge from the background, their bodies modeled with subtle shading, yet they remain somewhat stylized and strangely two-dimensional. It's like Machine is playing with different ways of seeing, of layering space and form. I love how the blue of the cleric’s gown is rendered in these flat, vertical stripes, which somehow make him more solid, more grounded in the space, while also emphasizing the picture plane. And the way he's used these tiny dots and dashes to create texture – in the grass, the trees, the beards – it's like he's building up the image from the smallest particles, giving it this palpable, almost tactile quality. It makes me think of work by other artists who explore outsider narratives, like Forrest Bess. Ultimately, the painting remains wonderfully ambiguous, inviting us to consider the complexities of faith, knowledge, and the human condition.