KEN CURRIE (SCOTTISH B.1960) §
FROSTBITE
£12,000
Auction: 15 March 2017 at 11:00 GMT
Description
Signed and inscribed with title and dated 1999 verso, oil on canvas, unframed
Dimensions
123cm x 91cm (48.5in x 37.75in)
Footnote
Literature: Tom Normand, 'Ken Currie: Details of a Journey', Aldershot, 2002, Lund Humphries, page 109.
Note: Ken Currie graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1983 and is considered to be one of the most significant figurative painters of his generation. In the late 1990s, Currie began to move away from depicting the social narrative of his earlier career and from the industrialism that had defined the work of the New Glasgow Boys in the 1980s. His interest in the human body, both physical and metaphysical, became increasingly more prevalent. Between 1996 and 2000, these interests were brought into focus with a series of luminous and haunting paintings that surveyed the human body as a whole but also as a series of fragmented parts.
Frostbite, 1999, is an important work from Currie's oeuvre and is a defining example of this body of work from the late 1990s. Depicting a pair of frostbitten feet that appear to have been submerged in water, this painting exemplifies Currie's interest in the metaphysical space that surrounds the human body, depicting it as an almost ghostly entity.
The paleness of the skin casts an ethereal, luminous glow which contrasts with the deep, mysterious tones that surround the feet. The colour palette can be seen as an exploration of the ambiguous boundary between life and death, a recurring motif for Currie, and is an investigation into the condition of the human body. The compelling composition of the feet in the upper canvas evokes the depth of the water. By stripping away references to location, the central motif is suspended in darkness giving an overall illusion of space, representing a metaphorical void beyond material existence.