John Currin, “Fishermen”, 2002, Oil on Canvas, 127 x 104.1 cm, Private Collection
Born in 1962, painter John Currin is known for his figurative works, which draw on sources ranging from the painting traditions of the Renaissance to 1950s advertisements. He is currently living and working in New York City.
Currin was born in Boulder, Colorado, and received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and an MFA from Yale University. Currin first received critical attention for his sensual paintings of female nudes. He frequently portrayed his nude figures as examinations of the various female archetypes found in visual culture, with a caricatured sexuality and studied emotions.
Currin’s later works include scenes and portraits painted with Mannerist aesthetics, featuring subjects with elongated, disproportionate limbs, and drawn from the genre of fashion magazines, pornography, and other commercial sources. Currin’s work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at the Tate Gallery in London, and at the Venice Biennale.