Scottish painter, the most overtly political of the *Glasgow School which emerged in the 1980s. Born in North Shields to Scottish parents, he studied at *Glasgow School of Art between 1978 and 1983. While a student he discovered a strain of socially committed realist painting in the work of *Dix, *Grosz, and *Rivera. His paintings deal with issues of working-class solidarity and self-improvement but also with despair at contemporary conditions. Edge of the City (1987, Manchester Art Gallery) shows an environment of derelict factories and burnt-out cars in Currie's characteristic dark colouration and *Expressionist drawing. In 1987 Currie made a series of murals on the history of workers' struggle in Glasgow for the People's Palace, Glasgow, beginning with the massacre of weavers in 1787 and concluding with a future in which enlightenment is suggested by miners' lamps.