Join artist Ken Currie in conversation with Tom Normand, art historian and author of ‘Ken Currie: Paintings and Writing’ for an insight into ‘An Turas: The Crossing’ and previous work.
An Turas: The Crossing will be in An Lanntair’s gallery from 12th July – 23rd August.
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.