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Colony

Artist: Currie, Ken, RSA · b. 1960

Colony

The artist has written of this work; "The work is part of a series based around my recent experiences and research over the last ten years around the…

The artist has written of this work;
"The work is part of a series based around my recent experiences and research over the last ten years around the North Atlantic islands of the Outer Hebrides, especially focusing on the remote archipelago of Hirta (St Kilda).

The following is an extract taken from my studio journal which provides a context for this body of work:
“People of the Sea.
People on the Edge.
People at Extremes.
Contested Land.
Crossing the Sea.
Eviction. Evasion. Evacuation. Displacement. Dispossession. Destitution.” "

At Glasgow School of Art in the early 1980s Currie was encouraged by Alexander Moffat. He looked to the tradition of the Scottish Colourists and turned that on its head. Whereas they had concentrated on colour first and content second, for Currie the content was the critical element and colour a secondary consideration.

Here the palette is entirely in keeping with the melancholic mood which prevails in the subject matter; a group of exhausted men and women in a barren setting and at the mercy of the elements.

It is left for the viewer to determine whether these people are survivors having lost their vessel, or have reached this destination to start a new life, or is this them gathered at the quayside one last time before leaving their ancestral homeland for ever.

© The Artist