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Artist creates beautiful paintings based on vintage images to merge the past and present

Portland-based artist Joshua Flint creates paintings that are based on vintage images curated from many sources, such as museum archives and charity shops, and then mixes them up to create new stories that fluctuate between the familiar and the unknown, the past and the present – allowing countless interpretations.

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A woman in a grey dress with a white bow in her hair gazes into a brightly lit shop window at night in this oil painting by Joshua Flint

Layered into works are references to liminality, ecological issues, neuroscience, psychological states, and the history of painting, among others. As explained on his website: "The images sourced from out-of-date materials hold a special fascination. Much like observing the ruins of an old, grand building or a church in a state of decay, the characters and objects that populate his paintings are employed to create a sense of ephemerality, imbuing the work with a kind of fascination and anxiety, over the passage of time.

"Used in this way they serve as reminders that cutting edge trends and novelty will evolve into new iterations or be abandoned altogether. In addition, most of the photos incorporated into the works do not contain elements that were directed or photographed by the artist, all of which allows a certain distance to reinterpret as he sees fit."

Joshua adds: "I can see this person or place in a photograph but know nothing about what is going on beyond those paper borders. That ambiguity, between the seen and unseen, between the real and the imaginary, is where my paintings live."

Joshua received a BFA from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2002. He has exhibited extensively in the US at galleries such as Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, Sloane Merrill Gallery in Boston, and La Luz de Jesus Gallery in LA. His work has been featured in American Art Collector, Southwest Art, and Poets and Artists. He is currently an Associate Professor at the Pacific Northwest College of Art and lives in Portland, Oregon.

Ethereal figures float above a miniaturised cityscape of towering skyscrapers, blending vintage imagery with a surreal landscape of water and distant hills
Two shirtless boxers in khaki trousers fight in an urban street whilst a crowd watches from below, in Joshua Flint's painting merging vintage imagery with contemporary settings
Two figures carrying a long wooden boat overhead, rendered in muted tones with yellow and green accents in a hazy, atmospheric composition by Joshua Flint
Abstract painting by Joshua Flint layering vintage photographic imagery with loose brushwork in muted earth tones and whites, creating an ethereal composition that merges past and present
A black-framed greenhouse with glass panels contains a painted landscape showing a golden cottage nestled among green trees and foliage, merging vintage imagery with contemporary artistic reinterpretation
Joshua Flint painting merging vintage figures with surreal landscape elements, including a draped interior space and figures wading through ethereal waters
Ethereal painting of five figures seated and standing around a pink-toned dining table with dishes and utensils, rendered in soft, atmospheric brushstrokes blending vintage imagery with contemporary abstraction
Joshua Flint painting layering vintage images of two women and horses with a house and bicycle, merging past and present through translucent, ethereal brushwork in muted tones
Two figures wading in golden water gaze towards a city skyline shrouded in mist, merging vintage imagery with a dreamlike urban landscape
A nude figure bends forward over a desk containing architectural models of buildings with lit windows, merging the human form with an urban landscape in muted tones
Joshua Flint's painting of elegantly dressed figures dining at a table in a dilapidated interior with bare trees and crumbling walls, blending vintage imagery with contemporary artistic vision
A layered painting by Joshua Flint showing ghostly figures and reclining forms blended with vintage imagery, pink flowers and soft blue and yellow tones throughout
Nude figure standing in an interior space with layered, translucent paint effects creating a dreamlike quality, with doorways and architectural elements visible in soft, muted tones
A woman with a white bow in her hair stands facing away from the viewer on a rainy urban street at night, surrounded by illuminated buildings.
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