Tragic Forms Ken Currie

This catalogue was published to coincide with the artist's solo exhibition Tragic Forms, 26 February - 9 April 2016. 

Since the early 1990s, Ken Currie has become known for his closely observed and often unsettling portrayal of the body, depicting the damage inflicted by illness and decay as a response to what he felt was the sickness of contemporary society. 

The works featured in this publication focus on the human body in a state of transformation, between physical and existential states. The hybridised figures appear to be half-human, half-insentient slabs of meat. Transitioning between the two, they present a state of physical and psychic flux. The passage between one form and another is often echoed in the transition between darkness and light in Currie’s work. The brightly lit figures appear to emerge from a darkened and featureless background, suggestive of a theatrical space. 

This catalogue includes an essay by Martin Hammer, the author of several important scholarly books on the art of Francis Bacon and Professor of History and Philosophy of Art at the University of Kent.