Ken Currie, The Crossing, Flowers Gallery, Cork Street, London, 10th October, 2024 – Friday, playing catch up, today was a second two or three hours spent at Frieze itself and then a good five or six with the once in a lifetime treasures of Frieze Masters, nose to nose with Mary Beale. Frieze Masters always feels like the treat, the payoff, the pudding, the cake and the ice cream after the hard work and the hard miles of the main Frieze event. That was today though, and before we distil all that, there’s Thursday evening to catch up, Cork Street and the much anticipated Ken Currie opening at Flowers amongst several other show openings and current shows just being open late for what was billed as the busiest art night of the year. Frieze’s West End night was, as we already said in the previous piece and that five picks list, nowhere near as happening as it was last year. Who popped the Cork Street balloon? Things felt politely flat last night. Sure. it was busy, nowhere anywhere near as busy as last year, none of the swagger of last year either, none of the big statement of Cork Street in 2023, none of the buzz, last year really was the art night of the year, it really did feel like an event, last night it was pretty much shutting down at 8pm and little more than just another Thursday night down the street! Yes there were shows opening or current shows open late, most of the galleries were open, some were invite only, others were open to almost anyone curious enough to walk in, Ken Currie’s latest show was opening at Flowers, that certainly didn’t disappoint, he never was going to though, there were high expectations, Ken Currie’s show was the reason for heading to Cork Street last night.

Not quite so big a show as his last one and kind of crammed into the Cork Street home of Flowers rather than their much missed much much bigger much more theatrical East London Kingsland Road space. It is still a big show, his paintings always seem big and not just in terms of the size of the canvas, although his canvas is pretty much always big. The Crossing is a proper painting exhibition and like we said last time back in 2022, who paints like this in this day and age?

“We are delighted to announce a solo exhibition, The Crossing, by the acclaimed Scottish artist Ken Currie” shouted the gallery, “People of the Sea. People on the Edge. People at Extremes. Contested Land. Crossing the Sea. Eviction. Evasion. Evacuation. Displacement. Dispossession. Destitution” said the artist. Last time it was rich dark reds, this times its inky blues that are almost black, it does still feel religious, it does feel mysteriously otherly, dark, not for strangers, the edges of a big country, an unknown archipelago, characterised by its desolate and barren islands and towering sea stacks.  It could be the Outer Hebrides during the darker periods of the year, it could be somewhere further out, it could e now, it could be five hundred years ago. This time it feels almost like a land totally of his invention,  not so much an unforgiving place, more a place that you or I don’t really want to venture to if we can help it, not a place for strangers. And tonight of course there’s a big turnout, many have made a point of coming to the opening night, I admit I was eager, I couldn’t wait for the weekend and some kind of quieter time, I had to hotfoot it (or hot Lizzy line it) to the West End, impatient, in need, seems from the conversations, I’m not the only one, it does feel like an event and of course none of us can see the paintings properly through the dark shapes of people in the crowded gallery. The lighting is low, the lighting is just right for this show, for these works, were all in shadows, the dark paintings surrounding us, a stage set…

Evocative, otherly, a place of their own, these new works, almost a world of their own, a place of folklore, dark, of ways handed down, of ritual, and (some other) faith. figures in robes, black-smeared faces, faces you want to look into, try to read, or at least shadows you are drawn into, it maybe not quite as powerful as last time, a little unsettling maybe, certainly mysterious, not sure if they are as utterly powerful, as theatrical as it was in 2022, they are powerful, they certainly are mysterious, maybe his palette this time isn’t quite so rich this time, maybe it is a touch more obvious, fantasy book cover rather than long lost fishing for some religious… well something or other. It wasn’t quite the wow this time, not quite such a gasp of air, last time it really was breath taking drama, this time not quite so big, they are still dramatic, they are still big, you are still wondering why no one paints like this, and that horse, that horse is disturbing, that is dark, it isn’t a comfortable thing, it isn’t a pleasure, although just as a painting it certainly is, but what is going on there and what is happening to these people, where are they going, where are they being made to go….   (sw)

Previously – ORGAN THING: Before Frieze week kicks off, that breathtaking Ken Currie exhibition at Flowers on the Kingland Road. Wow (again), who paints like this in 2022?!

ORGAN: Frieze Week, the obligatory top ten list – Jeffrey Gibson, Jadé Fadojutimi’s seven paintings, Ken Currie at Flowers, Gina Birch, Caroline Coon, Lee Maelzer’s beds, Selome Muleta, Emma Amos, that DIS bench, Madeleine Strindberg’s spider and yes, painting itself…        

As always, do clcik on an image to enlarge andsee the whole thing, or to run the slide show, although you are going to findfar better images on the gallery’s own website…