The Modern Portrait, a photography exhibition at The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, an exhibition displaying the celebrated Scottish individuals of past and present day. The gallery homes a large amount of old paintings and new digital imagery, displaying some individuals whom you don’t even realise are Scottish. The most interesting image in the large gallery space, for me, was ‘Three Oncologists’ by Ken Currie. Painted in 2002, it portrays three leading doctors in cancer, performing life changing surgery. The painting is intimidatingly haunting due to the use of colours and shadow, the haunting atmosphere is intensified by the realisation that they are performing surgery that could make or break the individual’s life and the very real matter that some do not make it. The strong use of black is clever, as it emphasises the way in which they are headed into darkness and something that they cannot always guarantee a light at the end of the tunnel, or a permanent one for that. Elaborating on the use of dark tones, there is an instance of the surgeons physically disappearing into the darkness through the use of Currie’s painting style.

The way their clothes and bodies merge with the darkness implies a sense of being surrounded by cancer, their lives as oncologists are to treat cancer, a deadly disease. This blur into the background is exactly that. Looking into expressions of the doctors, an intenseness and severity of the matter is implied. Their reddened eyes and tight faces imply nothing but stress, yet at the same time wiseness as they perform the surgery.

When considering the size of the painting there is a strong message that comes alongside the fact it is a very large painting. The majority of the wall was covered by the painting, reiterating not only the enormity of the job the three oncologists were undertaking, but the huge responsibility they have in holding an individual’s current and future life in their hands.

One review on Currie’s works; ‘Ken Currie: Portrait with eye, hand and brain’ by Duncan Macmillan, also related back to the fine line that Currie crosses between life and death. There have been a couple articles and reviews written about the way in which Currie paints about life and death as a whole, with striking images that speak this inevitable crossover. Yet, for this piece the use of expression in the doctors faces almost emphasises the hardship they are facing, as they are toying with life and death on a matter that is unpredictable and, for now, incurable.

“It puts the oncologists serious and intent, in the frontline of a struggle with death” (Macmillan, 2013). This statement in the review responds to the constant battle the oncologists have with treating cancer, in particular this certain surgery. In relation to my response of the painting, there is a similarity between the haunting atmosphere from the image, in that this brings about this emotion that they are constantly fighting the loss of the patient’s life. The “struggle with death” is  a huge part of being a cancer patient, living with what can be the unknown is apparent. Spreading of such a disease is most likely to be inevitable, yet these three oncologists are trying to fight this inevitability.

https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/art/ken-currie-portrait-with-eye-hand-and-brain-1-3019152