Ken Currie ( 1940- ...) - Three Oncologists

Three Oncologists (Professor RJ Steele, Professor Sir Alfred Cuschieri and Professor Sir David P Lane of the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.

• Oil on canvas
• Size 195.58 x 243.84 cm
• http://www.nationalgalleries.org/ 
•  the National Galleries of Scotland.

The men represented in this painting are professors in the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School in Dundee. The Head of Department and Professor of Surgery, Sir Alfred Cuschieri, is in the centre. Sir David Lane, Professor of Molecular Oncology is on the right. On the left is surgeon Professor Steele. All three men appear to have been disturbed in the middle of their duties: Professor Steele has blood on his hands and Sir Alfred Cuschieri is holding a medical implement. The luminous quality of the paint makes the figures look almost ghostly, expressing the sense of horror and anxiety associated with cancer.

Ken Currie (Scottish, born 1960)

Scottish artist Currie studied at the Glasgow School of Art. He used industrial Glasgow as the subject of his early work, with paintings that were linear in style and modelled in block-like forms. In the early 1990s, Currie was much affected by political and humanitarian events in Eastern Europe. He began to depict decaying and damaged bodies as a response to what he felt was the sickness of contemporary society. Although still as socially aware as in his earlier work, his style became less linear. From the mid-1990s, Currie's paintings became simpler. He focused on individuals instead of crowds and painted in haunting, luminous colours.