limited edition printer's proof etching on paper, signed, titled, dated '91 and inscribed PP full sheet float mounted, framed and under glass

image size 31cm x 21cm, overall size 71cm x 60cm

Note: From 'The Age of Uncertainty' series which were the first etchings Ken Currie made. Currie's idea was to create as many plates as he could, in order to see how the process worked and what the medium was capable of. Working with Master Printer Stuart Duffin, Currie produced 30 or 40 plates, from which 27 became the final series of etchings. There is not an over-riding narrative to the series but images are linked thematically and are on the same subjects as the artist's paintings of the time. These subjects include ethnic cleansing and the recent Gulf War, plus events which suggested a post-Cold War triumphalism of the West, including political developments in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall, which occurred only three years previously. During the early 1990s, Currie's art was very much affected by these events. In the 1980s he had produced images which showed the self-educated Scottish working class, but the idealism of these pieces made way for work with a darker edge and biting satire which examined social and political injustices and to some extent mocked the idealism of his early work. Goya's prints were also a significant influence on 'The Age of Uncertainty'. ''The Age of Uncertainty' series was first exhibited in Glasgow Print Studio's Gallery in May 1992. Note 2: Ken Currie 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, with the artist’s rich, luminous paintings depicting narratives on mysterious rites, rituals, and quasi-medical practices, offering a meditation on humanity and violence in its many guises. In 1987, Ken Currie completed a powerful series of large scale history paintings for the People’s Palace in Glasgow, commemorating the massacre of the Calton Weavers. Through the 1990's, deeply affected by humanitarian events in Eastern Europe, Currie's works evolved, his focus shifting to confront ideas of mortality and corruption, both physical and moral. Over the last 20 years Currie's work has addressed the horrors of the contemporary world, without shying away from their brutality or grotesque nature, alongside notable commissions. In 2009 Currie was commissioned to paint the theoretical scientist Peter Higgs following his receipt of the Nobel Prize, with the painting installed at The University of Edinburgh. In 2023, the National Galleries of Scotland acquired Ken Currie's painting of Professor Dame Sue Black, Baroness Black of Strome, The Unknown Man, 2019. Ken Currie has exhibited widely internationally, including a 2013 solo exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland, which also commissioned his painting Three Oncologists, 2002. Currie’s work is held in 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. Ken Currie: Paintings and Writings, compiled and edited by art historian Tom Normand, was published in 2023, offering a rare insight into Currie’s challenging and enigmatic art, providing access to his private studio journals for the first time. elected Public Collections: ARKEN, Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark; Boston Museum of Fine Art, Boston, USA; British Council, London, UK; British Museum, London, UK; Campbelltown City Bicentennial Art Gallery, Australia; City Arts Centre, Edinburgh, UK; Culture NL, Coatbridge, UK; Edinburgh University, Edinburgh, UK; Fife Collections Centre, St Andrews, UK; Fleming Collection, London, UK; Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK; Glasgow Museums and Art Galleries, Glasgow, UK; Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, Glasgow, UK; People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, Glasgow, UK; Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, UK; Gulbekian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal; Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, USA; The Harry and Margery Boswell Collection, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK; The Highlands Council, Inverness, UK; Imperial War Museum, London, UK; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, UK; Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds, UK; Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK; McMaster Museum of Modern Art, Hamilton, Canada; Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough, UK; Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal, Canada; New York Public Library, New York, USA; Nottingham Castle Museum, Nottingham, UK; Paisley Museum and Art Gallery, Paisley, UK; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK; Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Perth, UK; RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Robert Burns, Birthplace Museum, Alloway, UK; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK; Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK; Scottish Trades Union Congress, Glasgow, UK; Strathclyde University, Glasgow, UK; Tate Britain, London, UK; Toledo Museum of Fine Art, Ohio, USA; Yale Centre for British Art, Connecticut, USA