Moon Shadow 2018

Editor: Joshua Flint's "Moon Shadow," created in 2018, presents two figures engaged in what appears to be a duel. The limited palette and impasto technique create a somber, almost ghostly mood. What do you see as significant about Flint’s artistic choices here? Curator: For me, it’s the very *stuff* of the painting itself that commands attention. Flint's impasto isn’t just decorative; it's integral to the meaning. Think about the physical labor involved in layering that oil paint, and how that physicality mirrors the intense struggle depicted. Does this application elevate the work beyond the genre-painting category, and hint to broader social structures? Editor: So, you're saying the way the painting is made—the physical act of painting—connects to larger ideas about the scene depicted? Curator: Precisely! Consider the historical context of dueling. Who had the resources, the leisure, to engage in such displays of skill and honor? The texture of the paint becomes a signifier of class, power, and privilege embedded within this seemingly straightforward historical scene. Look how the impasto seems to disappear into very thinly applied paint - it looks like labor, time and money, becomes as a smoke. How would it feel if this was simply painted by smooth areas of color instead? Editor: That makes me see the brushstrokes differently now. It's almost like each stroke is a small mark of labor, mimicking the effort of the duel itself, and also gesturing to who has enough money to create a picture at all. Curator: Exactly! By foregrounding the materiality of the paint and the process of its application, Flint subtly interrogates the social conditions that made such events – and representations of them – possible. Editor: I never considered how the physical making of a painting could be so intertwined with its social meaning. Curator: It’s a reminder that art isn’t just about what is depicted, but *how* it’s depicted and the story of materials employed. Editor: Thanks, that perspective gives me so much more to think about when looking at paintings.