Catalogue Raisonné. Twin, CR107
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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Twin
CR 107
New York City
December, 1965
Enamel on aluminium and chrome on brass
Two parts, five feet apart at nearest point. 94 x 96 inches
Private collection, USA
Citations and Comments
Though the group of works, of which this is an example, are made of metal, their third dimension is the minimum compatible with their physical stability. The volume they imply is illusionistic and painterly. Though it is a purely academic point, and one that it would be profitless to pursue, as far as I am concerned they are paintings. This piece is interesting in that it contains two of the forms which are now part of my vocabulary - first, the ‘Pin’ (the painted part, seminal to the later ‘Pyramids’). And, second, the ‘Axe’ (the chromed part, vaguely reminiscent of an executioner’s axe). It has no figurative prop or raison d’etre.
, 1971: Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1971Perhaps it was in 1965 with pieces like Twin that Laing began to realise that the sculptures were taking on a life of their own. From this point onwards the idea that these are still basically descriptive pieces vanishes. The two shapes in Twin have a quite distinct ‘personality’ of their own, and they contain shapes which Laing has used ever since. By this time Laing was becoming aware that the artistic climate of New York did not suit him. Each work produced at that time seems to be an attempt to astonish us more than the last, a fact surely dependent upon the pressure of living in New York, an artistic forcing house where the artist develops his new ideas under the public gaze. However single-minded the man may be, he cannot fail to be affected by this. Artists such as Warhol thrive on it, indeed incorporate it into their art; Laing took the opposite course in returning to the country of his roots: Scotland.
, 1971: Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1971Catalogue Raisonné Information
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- Four Seasons Restaurant, New York, 1966
- Highlights of the 1965–66 Art Season, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, 1966