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.

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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.

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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.

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1982 – 2007: Portrait Heads

Gerald Laing's portrait work includes heads and reliefs of Luciano Pavarotti, Andy Warhol, Paul Getty and Sam Wanamaker.

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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.

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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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Search the Catalogue

Cr076 gyroni bwp gc rfg clean

Gyron I

Catalogue No. 78

Artist's CR 076

March, 1965

New York

Acrylic on aluminium and chrome steel, irregular shape

99 x 80 x34 inches / 251 x 203 x86 cm

Collection: Unknown

    Provenance:
  • (Richard Feigen Gallery, New York)
  • Collection of John and Kimiko Powers
  • Collection of Academy for Educational Development, Washington D.C.
  • Collection of Unknown

I then explored the possibilities of using the painting to interfere with its physical environment, rather than merely to utilise it. Here, for instance, the skydiver lies on the ground while his parachute collapses slowly above him. But also the whole piece locks into this corner of the room and implies other possibilities. Is the chrome part a hole through which another piece can be seen? Is there also a mirror image through the wall? Does it continue into and through the floor? Are there four pieces, three of them invisible? etc.

1971: Gerald Laing, Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1971