Migration 2016

Joshua Flint's painting, Migration, uses thin layers of oil paint in muted colors to create a dreamlike scene. The artist’s process feels intuitive, like a memory struggling to surface. Look at the way the paint drips and pools, especially in the lower half of the canvas. These are not mistakes but deliberate choices that add to the painting's emotional depth. The surface isn’t smooth or polished, but raw and textured, allowing the physicality of the medium to shine through. There is a gestural quality to the brushwork that suggests movement and change. The way Flint blends and blurs the figures, obscuring their identities, invites us to contemplate our own journeys and transformations. There’s something about the vulnerability in his figures that reminds me of Paula Rego. Both artists explore themes of displacement, identity, and the human condition with a sense of honesty. "Migration" embraces ambiguity, reminding us that art is not about fixed answers, but about opening up spaces for reflection and imagination.