Catalogue Raisonné. Maquette for Frieze of the Wise and Foolish Virgins - Wistfulness (Patti Smith), CR379e
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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Maquette for Frieze of the Wise and Foolish Virgins - Wistfulness (Patti Smith)
CR 379e
1978
Bronze
27 x 26 x 5 inches
Edition of 6
Citations and Comments
Patti Smith as the Wisest Foolish Virgin, so designated because during the period when I was making the sculpture she sang a song in which she challenged God to show himself and then fell off the stage and chipped a vertebrae. You could say that at least she was looking. Her image is taken from her LP entitled Radio Ethiopia. She was in Edinburgh and saw the maquette for the sculpture when I exhibited it during the 1978 Edinburgh Festival. She prodded her modelled bronze hand, and declared, “that’s a fine hand for playin’ a gee-tar.”
, 'Gerald Laing: An Autobiography', unpublished manuscript, 2011, ch.45The wisest of the Foolish Virgins, this figure sensed the truth, but failed to act upon it. She is the only one of the Foolish Virgins who can see the departing Wise Virgins, and who is fully aware of the different fates of the two groups.
, Gerald Laing: Paintings and Sculpture 1963–1983, exhibition catalogue, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, 1983- An Exhibition of Sculpture by Gerald Laing at the Edinburgh Festival, Gladstone Court, 1978
- Gerald Laing: Paintings and Sculpture 1963–1983, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, 1983