Time Machine 7 2021

Curator: Immediately, I'm struck by how contained this scene feels, like a snow globe of reality. It’s dreamlike. Editor: That’s a wonderful way to put it. What we have here is Joshua Flint's "Time Machine 7" from 2021. It's an oil painting that toys with realism and surrealism quite brilliantly. The layering of the interior and exterior is really captivating. Curator: Layering is key. I mean, look at the miniature landscape in the foreground juxtaposed with the vast mountain range visible through what I'm guessing is a window. It’s the interior and exterior world colliding and merging in a single frame. It suggests introspection. The mountains become a symbol for the depth of our own selves. Editor: I think you're right about that symbolism. But I see the composition through the lens of artifice and institutional spaces. Consider the woman in the picture – she seems to be meticulously crafting a landscape model, yet the "real" landscape looms behind her. There is a feeling of control there; not nature, but controlled nature is being presented. I consider what role this 'painting' could have had in our societal perceptions of landscapes? Was it meant to romanticize nature or rather make nature palatable through simulated miniature displays? Curator: A fascinating question, given the painting’s inherent tensions! She's not just "crafting a landscape," though; she seems lost in the process. I see that act of creating and recreating not as a sign of institutional control, but one of humanity trying to know itself and our own human nature in relation to its setting, our landscapes! I think of Narcissus staring into the pond, completely absorbed, and in love with his image reflected in the pond! Perhaps Flint is drawing attention to that narcissistic part of our own human nature when approaching nature? Editor: I'm inclined to believe this might very well be how the work evokes discussion surrounding society's romantic perception of nature. If anything, Flint, here seems to offer visual commentaries around what could be called civilization's simulated control over what is real and naturally occurring. But that feeling of her, being totally absorbed and "one" with nature— yes I definitely agree. Curator: So, both controlling and connected— a real paradox for how we experience nature. It stays with you, this painting. Editor: Absolutely. The blending of realism with surreal elements really makes this a thought-provoking piece.