Catalogue Raisonné. G Force
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.
View all Utopian Abstract Sculpture
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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G Force
Catalogue No. 24
Artist's CR 021
1963
London
Oil on canvas
36 x 56 inches / 91 x 142 cm
Collection: Private collection
- (Richard Feigen Gallery, New York)
- Private collection
- Gerald Laing, Keith Lingard, David Milne, Saint Martin’s School of Art, London, 1964
- New Images, Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, NY, 1964
- Space, Speed, Sex: Works from the early 1960s by Gerald Laing, Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, London, 2006
- Gerald Laing and Alasdair Hamilton, 1971: Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1971
- Space, Speed, Sex: Works from the early 1960s by Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert, 2006
- Lindsey Ingram and Rupert Halliwell (eds.), Gerald Laing Prints and Multiples: A Catalogue Raisonné, Sims Reed Ltd, London, 2006
At this stage I began to introduce colour, in a flat pattern or in flat interlocking shapes. It is worth noting that these flat coloured areas have no pictorial depth. On the other hand, the dotted monochrome areas have atmospheric space and depth, and express real volume, at the same time remaining modular in technique. I should mention two other points about this painting in particular. Firstly, the use of a repetitive image, in this case the same man losing consciousness, i.e. at three different intervals in time on the same canvas (pictorial device with a very respectable genealogy). Second, the use of silver paint. Silver is a colour which appeals to me because of its violent tonal changes according to how the light strikes it, and because of its very arbitrary spacial implications.
1971: Gerald Laing, Gerald Laing, exh. cat., Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1971, p.11