The Death of Cuchulain 2016

Curator: Let's talk about Joe Machine's "The Death of Cuchulain," painted in 2016. It's an acrylic painting and I find the subject matter rendered in this illustrative style so haunting. What are your first impressions? Editor: It feels stark, almost brutally honest in its depiction. The pale figure, bound and wounded, with the ominous presence of the raven and masked figure... How do you interpret this work, particularly in terms of its materiality? Curator: It's compelling to consider how Machine utilizes the accessibility of acrylic paint – a material deeply rooted in both domestic and industrial production. There is an inherent leveling of high and low art. How does the narrative element, of mythology, play into the consumption of imagery? Editor: That's fascinating. So the everyday nature of the paint contrasts with the grandeur of the mythological subject, bringing it down to earth. The painting doesn't scream "old master", it looks current. Curator: Precisely. And if we consider the canvas itself as a commodity, and painting as labor, what does it suggest about Machine’s position regarding the commodification of historical narratives and myth? Do you see a reverence for Cuchulain or something more critical? Editor: Maybe it is about the flattening, the making accessible through common materials. I’m not sure it feels reverent, maybe even questioning… making mythology common. So if mythology is another material here, then that is being shaped into the finished painting? Curator: I find it striking how Machine reframes the myth by democratizing its materials and presentation, turning a possibly tragic, heroic subject into something both visceral and...manufactured? Editor: That's given me a lot to think about; the interplay of materials, mythology, and manufacture, turning something timeless into something relevant to our consumption-driven culture. I now see a complex statement on history, labour and society.