Standing against a solid block of piercing blue, Ian Scott’s figure appears as poised and unruffled as are her flawless skin, high cheekbones and impeccably manicured eyebrows. Abruptly cropped just below the neck, the figure is pushed into the spectator’s space, demanding active participation from the viewer. Further heightening this sense of engagement is the direct stare of the figure, which obviates her from becoming a passive object, offered up for the spectator’s perusal. The work is conceived in the bust-length format with the sitter turned only slightly to the right and the finesse of the artist and the attention of the viewer have been concentrated into the face and hair of the figure. The smooth, invisible brush strokes dull the sense of individuality and replace it with an element of the mass-produced and of digital manipulation, plastic surgery and hyper-perfection. This facet of the surreal and generic is heightened by Scott’s use of a reduced palette with predominantly warm tones ironically imbuing the sitter with a quality of liveliness, robust health and good cheer. The bright red lips, strong nose, clear blue eyes and immaculately quaffed auburn hair combine to produce an arresting image. Produced in the late 1960s, the majority of Scott’s portraits from this period feature ‘girlies’, figures taken from men’s magazines which he transcribed onto the fine art canvas, while ensuring that their pop culture origins remained wholly obvious (refer lot 38). While bared breasts or bottoms graced these canvases, the present portrait offers a much more subdued