Ken Currie

An Turas: The Crossing at An Lanntair

Ken Currie's process is organic, with the subject for one painting becoming a fragment within, or a catalyst for, the creation of new works. This series of new panels is both directly related to and entwined with his larger paintings from The Crossing.

As with much of Currie's work, his fictional contemporary imagery is created by honouring a traditional process. Painting with oil onto a gesso-prepared wood panel is a technique associated with practices from the Early Netherlandish and Renaissance periods. To make the surface, and to avoid the wood absorbing any paint, a thin layer of gesso (a priming material) is first painted directly onto the panel, and allowed to dry for 24 hours. The surface is then sanded until it is white and smooth, like porcelain. This meticulous process can be repeated an additional 1-3 times, building layers to create depth and effect.

Unlike linen canvas, a gesso foundation has no flexibility and is vulnerable to indentations made by an artist's brush, requiring precise handling. Physically delicate, oil on gesso has an intense luminosity, absorbing and refracting light very differently from paint on soft canvas, with the hardened physicality of the panel lending the finished work a subtly formal, otherworldly clarity.

Created between 2022-2025,  An Turas (Gaelic for 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.

Currie’s paintings are imbued with imagery evocative of inherited folklore, ritual, and faith. Given that the catalyst for this series 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.