Image of three men standing below a mass of limbs, primarily feet. Printed in black ink (Rochat Ex Full Black).
In his catalogue essay for Currie's May 1992 exhibition 'The Age of Uncertainty', Bill Hare writes that this print falls into one of three groups in the series, being inspired by the Gulf War; "In many cases the moral outrage of the artist is further emphasised by the satirical use of the military 'newspeak' employed in the titles. The superabundance of destructive high technology employed during the Gulf War is ironically contrasted with the dearth of information, especially about casualties, which was made available to the public. Thus, Currie mocks this devious secrecy of modern news media, by his identification with the honourable tradition of open debate which has characterised democratic print-making since the Reformation."
'The Age of Uncertainty' series was the first time Ken Currie had made etchings - an ambitious project for any artist but one that Currie describes as 'a learning process'. His idea was to create as many plates as he could, in order to see how the process worked and what the medium was capable of. Working with Master Printer Stuart Duffin, Currie produced 30 or 40 plates, from which 27 became the final series of etchings. There is not an over-riding narrative to the series but images are linked thematically and are on the same subjects as the artist's paintings of the time. These subjects include ethnic cleansing and the recent Gulf War, plus events which demonstrated the post-Cold War triumphalism of the West, including political developments in Eastern Europe and the fall of the Berlin Wall, which occurred only three years previously.
During the early 1990s, Currie's art was very much affected by these events. In the 1980s he had produced images which showed the self-educated Scottish working class, but the idealism of these pieces made way for work with a darker edge and biting satire which examined social and political injustices and to some extent mocked the idealism of his early work. Goya's prints were also a significant influence on 'The Age of Uncertainty'.
'The Age of Uncertainty' brought some technical challenges for the artist. Currie found the left to right reversal required from working on the plate to the final printed image difficult, as this felt at odds with his style of the time, which he describes as ‘mannered’. He found it very hard to compensate for this reversal initially. Through making these prints, Currie learned how to use aquatint, a process he later used to great effect in a series of prints made at Glasgow Print Studio in 2005-6. 'The Age of Uncertainty' series was exhibited in Glasgow Print Studio's Gallery in May 1992.
