"Two Irish Men in W11" by Lucian Freud

While in Dublin last week I stopped by The Irish Museum of Modern Art, or IMMA, to take in a spectacular show of Lucian Freud's portraits. Given its location in Ireland, the show made clear Freud's ties to the Irish and the intense relationship he forged with his sitters. "Two Irish Men in W11" was a standout in the show for it displayed succinctly Freud's ability to penetrate his sitters' psyche and simultaneously lends itself to a queer reading.

The man and the boy are father and son in the portrait. A more queer interpretation can signal daddy and boy / dom and sub / top and bottom. Whether this reading suits your lens, Freud's technique of painting the flesh is indisputable. With Freud the body is constantly in movement and his brushwork gives takes the eye on a journey across the subjects' physicality. Male hands in Freud's work are exaggerated ostensibly which gives an ultra masc authority to the father figure.

A great collection, see "The Freud Project" if you're in Dublin.

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