Speech to Sanhedrin - Golden Legend of St Stephen 2016

Joe Machine's "Speech to Sanhedrin - Golden Legend of St Stephen" is, well, a trip, like a Byzantine icon that got lost in a punk rock mosh pit. The paint here is laid on kinda flat, not fussy, but with these mad, intense lines. It's like he's mapping out the energy of the scene. Those angels behind Stephen are totally buff, like they're ready to rumble, but they are holding scrolls! The halos are like little targets or neon signs. I keep wondering what the artist is feeling in the moment of painting this? Check out the lines on Stephen's robe – they’re not just describing fabric, they’re like pathways of some kind. Everything is so earnest, so blunt, that it loops back around to this weird kind of sincerity. It reminds me a little of Guston, that total refusal to play it cool. Like Guston, Machine makes paintings that seem to be having a conversation with art history, even if it’s a shout across a crowded room. You can feel him making this.