Self-portraits are the focus

...of this article by Matthew Collings. His tv series on self-portraiture will air in September. I wish I could see it. I have self-portraits going back to when I was a teen. I did the first one after reading a book about Van Gogh. I never look at my self-portraits, at least not intentionally, but occasionally I'll come across one when I'm looking through the flatfiles for something else and every time the mere sight of my watercolor face leaves me motionless. Not that they are good or anything like that. I don't know what it is. Anyhow, getting back to the Collings article, the last three paragraphs touch on the final episode, which looks at women artists. The final sentence struck me: "In their different ways, they all come up with the kind of self that present-day art is most willing to tolerate: a collage of fragments with unexpected sincerities and insincerities - being false seems true, while being exaggeratedly authentic might seem a bit false."