Angels with Dirty Faces 2017

Editor: Here we have Joshua Flint's "Angels with Dirty Faces," created in 2017 using oil paint. My first thought is the artist is portraying a somewhat faded memory, with horizontal bands blurring and fragmenting the figures in the group portrait. What catches your eye when you look at this work? Curator: Oh, I feel this on a cellular level. There’s something profoundly human about imperfect recollections, about the way we piece together moments, often through fragmented glimpses. It makes me think of old team photographs and the romanticism embedded in the way they’re rendered. This group looks like a vintage football team, am I right? There is this powerful push and pull between tradition, a symbol of steadfast strength and youthful ambition, and something far more ephemeral. Editor: I see what you mean. The subjects almost seem suspended in time. Can you say more about "that push and pull?" Curator: I wonder about what this 'degradation' means. It feels very expressionistic, a move from surface to psyche. What narratives lie beneath these stoic, near-ghostly expressions? Is Flint alluding to the fleeting nature of fame, glory, of even youth itself? How might our perception of heroism shift through the subtle acts of obscuring and revealing the truth? It asks the question: What pieces do we chose to keep, what bits fall away with time? Editor: It's fascinating to consider the stories buried beneath those blurred faces. It makes you wonder about the unseen experiences that shape identity, both individually and as a group. Curator: Absolutely, I'll never see an old photo in the same way again. Thank you. Editor: Likewise. I’m taking a fresh perspective away from this.