Ken Currie - An Turas/The Crossing exhibition
The Crossing transports viewers to an unknown archipelago, characterised by its desolate and barren islands and towering sea stacks. The landscapes, reminiscent of the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides, feature eroded rock towers that emerge from a deep, black sea, foaming and spraying at their bases.
In this stark and unforgiving environment, an unidentified community endures a precarious existence without shelter. Stranded or perhaps in
a state of perpetual waiting, figures balance barefoot on guano-coated rock faces and navigate the waters in wooden-hulled vessels, steered by hooded ferrymen through the treacherous sea stacks. Their weather-beaten appearance is marked by salt-stung, red-tinged eyes and skin.
Currie’s print's are imbued with imagery evocative of inherited folklore, ritual, and faith.
Given that the catalyst for these paintings was Currie’s experiences over several years in the Western Isles it is fitting that they should return to be exhibited in this part of the world.
Ken Currie shared the following words about this new body of work from his studio journal:
“People of the Sea.
People on the Edge.
People at Extremes.
Contested Land.
Crossing the Sea.
Eviction. Evasion. Evacuation.
Displacement. Dispossession. Destitution.”
About Ken Currie
Ken Currie (b 1960) studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1978–1983 and rose to attention within a generation of painters known as the ‘New Glasgow Boys’ in the 1980s. He is renowned for his unsettling portrayal of the human figure. The artist’s rich, luminous paintings depict mysterious rites, rituals, and quasi-medical practices, offering a meditation on violence in its many guises. Ken Currie has exhibited widely internationally, including a 2013 solo exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland, which also commissioned his painting Three Oncologists. Currie’s work is held in many major public collections including Tate, London; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh; New York Public Library; Imperial War Museum, London; Campbelltown Arts Centre, New South Wales; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; and the British Council, London. In October 2023, The Scottish National Portrait Gallery acquired Ken Currie’s painting of Professor Dame Sue Black, Baroness Black of Strome, The Unknown Man, 2019. Ken Currie’s book, Ken Currie: Paintings and Writings, compiled and edited by art historian Tom Normand, was published on 9th December 2023. It offers a rare insight into Currie’s challenging and enigmatic art, providing access to his private studio journals for the first time.
