Catalogue Raisonné. They Make a Desert and Call it Democracy
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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They Make a Desert and Call it Democracy
Catalogue No. 685
Artist's CR 624
2005
Kinkell
Oil on canvas
32 x 36 inches / 81 x 91 cm
Collection: Destroyed by fire in 2016
- Private collection
- Collection of Destroyed by fire in 2016
- Gerald Laing: Iraq War Paintings, Galerie Salvador, Paris, 2005
- Gerald Laing: Iraq War Paintings, Globe Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2007
The title refers to Tacitus’ despairing view of the attempts by Rome to bring disparate and recalcitrant tribes into the Empire - ‘They make a desert, and call it peace’. Imperialists always have an excuse. The current one, employed by us, is the spread of democracy. In the nineteenth century it was Christianity. The real reason is always the pursuit of wealth and power. In Iraq the main effort is expended on keeping the oil flowing. Attempts by recalcitrant peoples to interrupt this flow produce spectacular spurts of flame at intervals across the landscape. Pools of oil create artificial lakes which reflect the lurid sky above them. The Iraqi suspended above this scene - in fact, suspended from the arm of a forklift truck by British soldiers - is reminiscent of a crucifixion. It is as though he is being roasted above his own fires. His position is ungainly. So many representations of our own martyrs show them calm and graceful to the end.
'Artist's Notes on War Paintings', Gerald Laing, unpublished manuscript, 2004
- They Make A Desert And Call It Democracy