Catalogue Raisonné. Apollo
The Major Periods
1962 – 1965: Early Pop Paintings
As one of the original wave of Pop artists Gerald Laing produced some of the most significant works of the British Pop movement. His paintings reproduced images of popular heroes such as starlets, film stars, drag racers, astronauts and skydivers. His 1962 portrait of Brigitte Bardot is an iconic work of the period and regularly features in major Pop retrospectives alongside Lincoln Convertible from 1964, a commemoration of the assassination of JFK.
1965 – 1970: Utopian Abstract Sculpture
From 1965 Gerald Laing's painting evolved into abstract sculptures using the techniques and materials of car customisation - lacquering, spray-painting and chrome-plating on metal.
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1970 – 1973: Sculpture In The Landscape
A move from New York to the Highlands of Scotland in 1970 saw Gerald Laing's sculpture respond to the beauty, roughness and power of the surrounding landscape.
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1972 – 2010: Public Sculpture
Public sculptures include the the Bank Station Dragons; the Rugby Sculptures at Twickenham Stadium; the Cricketer at Lords; the Highland Clearances Memorial in Helmsdale, Sutherland and Axis Mundi in Edinburgh.
1973 – 1980: Galina Series
Inspired by the figurative sculpture of the First World War Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, in 1973 Gerald Laing began to model in clay and cast in bronze. The Galina Series and associated sculptures were his first works from this period.
1982 – 2007: Portrait Heads
Gerald Laing's portrait work includes heads and reliefs of Luciano Pavarotti, Andy Warhol, Paul Getty and Sam Wanamaker.
2002 – 2005: War Paintings
The Iraq war and the publication of images of torture at Abu Ghraib prison drew Gerald Laing back to painting for the first time in over three decades. The War Paintings series sees the starlets and all-American heroes of his early paintings take on new, more sinister roles.
2004 – 2011: New Paintings
Returning to the style and subject matter of his early pop art paintings, Gerald Laing's latest paintings feature media images of contemporary celebrities including Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss.
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Apollo
Catalogue No. 609
Artist's CR 559
December - February, 1996
Kinkell
Bronze on stone base
90 inches / 229 cm , height
Collection: Unknown
- Gerald Laing, 'Apostasy', Northern Review, 1998
- Gerald Laing: Sculpture 1968–1999, exhibition catalogue, The Fine Art Society, 1999
- Gerald Laing: Sculpture at Chisenbury Priory, exhibition catalogue, Chisenbury Priory, 2002
The pose derives from William Blake’s painting The Dance of Albion (Glad Day) (c.1796), which was itself inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (c.1490).
When I was making Apollo, which became a quest for an ideal male image, I found it very helpful to look at two sculptures by the same artist - Lord Leighton - which were at that time exhibited side by side in the Tate Gallery. They are Athlete Wrestling with a Python (1874) and The Sluggard (1882). The first predates the influence wrought by the arrival of the French exiles in London, and is carried out in a typically rigorous and formal mid-nineteenth century Classical manner; the second, which is almost the equivalent of a modern super-realist work and is far more obviously homoerotic is a perfect example of the Romantic and evidently the result of the influence of [Aimé-Jules] Dalou in particular.
Gerald Laing: Sculpture at Chisenbury Priory, Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Chisenbury Priory, 2002