Catalogue Raisonné. Yellow Trace, CR214
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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Yellow Trace
CR 214
New York City
February, 1968
Lacquered aluminium and chrome-covered brass, polished black marble base
10 x 24 x 3.5 (edition of 10) inches
Edition of 10
1 of 10
Citations and Comments
In 1964 I went to live in New York. By 1965 I had begun to use shaped canvas stretchers of such complexity that it became obvious that it would be easier to cut the shape I required out of some sort of sheet material instead. In addition, I had become less interested in the figurative content of the work and more interested in its formal and abstract qualities. These two considerations led to a group of abstract metal pieces, of which catalogue numbers 4 & 5 [After the Ball is Over I and Yellow Wedge are examples. They still contain figurative references, but these are merely points of departure for idealised abstract works which still display a strong technological optimism. The techniques and finishes used are derived largely from the world of custom cars.
, Gerald Laing: Paintings and Sculpture 1963–1983, sxhibition catalogue, Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry, 1983- 1971: Gerald Laing, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1971
- Gerald Laing: Paintings and Sculpture 1963–1983, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, 1983
- Gerald Laing: A Retrospective 1963–1993, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, 1993
- Gerald Laing: Sculpture 1968–1999, The Fine Art Society, London, 1999
- Gerald Laing 1936–2011: A Retrospective, The Fine Art Society, London, 2016
- The Armory Show, Lyndsey Ingram, 2019