Sailor Jacking Up in Brothel 2017

Joe Machine’s ‘Sailor Jacking Up in Brothel’ is a large painting, a watercolor on canvas, but the way the washes have been applied makes it feel more like a fresco. The palette is pretty muted: dark and earthy. I like how the composition places the sailor in the foreground, almost blocking our view, even though the title of the piece suggests he is the object of the scene. The sailor’s face is particularly intriguing. See how the planes of his face are defined with a light gray, while the other figures are drawn in more rosy tones? The lines are simple, but they effectively convey a sense of weariness. There is something about this scene that feels very staged, as if all the protagonists are frozen in the middle of a play. Machine’s work reminds me of artists like Philip Guston or even Red Grooms, because of the raw simplicity and the exaggerated subject matter. Like those artists, he revels in an open-ended artmaking process, one that leaves room for unexpected outcomes and multiple interpretations.