The Banquet 2016

Editor: Here we have Joshua Flint's "The Banquet," created in 2016, an intriguing blend of oil paint and gouache, evoking something that feels both familiar and unsettling. It reminds me of a dream... slightly out of focus, maybe a memory. What stands out to you when you look at it? Curator: Ah, a feast for the eyes and the mind, wouldn't you say? What intrigues me most is the juxtaposition – the casual gathering clashing with the ethereal, almost spectral backdrop. It’s like a scene from a play where the stage setting suddenly overwhelms the actors. I wonder, are we witnessing a moment frozen in time, or a commentary on how easily we are distracted from the beauty, or terror, surrounding us? Does it make you feel grounded or adrift? Editor: Adrift, definitely. The people feel...layered. And that backdrop does give off an interesting theatrical sense. But adrift why? Curator: Perhaps because the usual anchors – recognizable space, sharp realism – are loosened. Flint presents figures in the style of romanticism with touches of surrealism in which figures share space with oil paint backdrops like painted scrims. Maybe the feast itself becomes a metaphor. What are they consuming, and what are they oblivious to? That strange beam of light reminds me of Caspar David Friedrich— the quiet awe that nature inspires when we bother to look up. Editor: I see that now – the light does add a certain drama. And the empty plates do prompt some interesting thoughts about consumption and distraction... Thank you! It is almost dreamlike; I wonder what the next course will bring? Curator: Precisely! And perhaps, more importantly, who will be present to truly savor it? That feeling of being “adrift” might just be Flint's clever way of inviting us to find our own bearings in a world overflowing with sights and sounds. I'll certainly be thinking of that!