Paul McClintock

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More complicated is the case of Paul McClintock’s Idealised Asymmetrical Self-Portrait (sic); he is the one who observed that it is the last year he can be considered young. Here we see a young man’s face, wearing some kind of cap or hood, looking at us with the rather blank stare of one who is scrutinising himself in a mirror. Whereas Morrow manages to look out at the viewer with a quizzical if contained engagement, McClintock is caught in the loop of self-absorption.

What is particularly interesting about this work is, once again, its sexual ambiguity. It is obviously the face of a young male, yet the youthful beard seems only to emphasise the big eyes and full lips, while the backward tilt of the head, reducing the prominence of the nose, lends the whole face a still more feminine quality.

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