John Currin: Works on Paper

American artist John Currin (b. 1962) emerged in the early 1990s along with a wave of other young artists who invigorated figurative art while questioning its conventions. Currin’s portraits of women, often placed in unusual narrative situations, respond to the venerable yet troublesome tradition of female representations, both pre- and post-feminism. His work often refers to popular illustration, various art historical styles, and allegory, resulting in images that sometimes border on the bizarre.

This exhibition will feature roughly thirty of Currin’s drawings from 1991 to 2002. Like his paintings, these drawings express the tension between his subject matter and the masterful technique he employs in his work. His drawings are usually of single female figures or couples, and exhibit a high degree of craftsmanship and finish, often running the gamut of drawing techniques and materials, including pencil, ink, watercolor, charcoal, conté crayon, gouache, and pastel.