Illustration of a standing figure in a white shroud with eye holes. Printed in black ink (Intagliio Printmaker Shop Mix velvet black) from a copper plate.
This print is from a series made in 2005-6, the first time Currie had returned to the Glasgow Print Studio workshop to make a publication since ‘The Age of Uncertainty’ series in 1991-2. With these new works, the process had begun in 2002, when the artist began creating drawings in his studio. When making his earlier prints, Currie had no experience of etching and regarded the prints created as “a learning process”. This time, he had very clear ideas about what he wanted to produce. He began by making drawings on the hard ground of a copper plate and then used aquatint to create tones, a process he had previously enjoyed and used to great effect. Stop out Varnish is traditionally used for Aquatint, but as Currie disliked the hard edge this gave he used oil pastel instead. He felt that he had more control over this technique as it was nearer to a painterly process but retained spontaneity. This technique is unpredictable to a certain extent as oil pastel resist can float off in the acid bath to allow unexpected etching/biting. This unpredictability was an aspect of printmaking that he liked, and he still wanted to take risks. Currie’s aquatint method produced a softly textured, degraded-looking tone which is very similar to his paintings of the time. Collaborating master printer Stuart Duffin also showed him how to use spit bite. The images use a combination of the artist’s oil pastel/aquatint method and spit bite. Currie had also used a hairdryer to dry his etching plate and found that he liked the splashes and textures that can be achieved by using acid on a warmed/hot plate, which also softened the oil pastel.
It has been suggested that this series of prints refer to the different stages of death, but this was not a conscious decision by the artist. Currie explained that it may have been unconscious, as this has been one of the underlying themes in his work and his father died while he was making the series and while he was working in the Print Studio workshop. Parallels in style and subject matter can be drawn with the artist’s paintings of the same period.
