GERALD LAING

Awe Shucks

Catalogue raisonné no. 670

Artist's CR 611

2004

Kinkell

Oil on canvas

48 x 70 inches / 0 cm

Exhibitions:
• Gerald Laing: From 1963 to the Present, Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh, 2004
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• Gerald Laing: Iraq War Paintings, Kings College, Cambridge, 2005
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• Gerald Laing: Iraq War Paintings, Spike Gallery, New York, 2005
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• Gerald Laing: Iraq War Paintings, Galerie Salvador, Paris, 2005
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• Gerald Laing: Iraq War Paintings, Globe Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2007
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• Gerald Laing 1936–2011: A Retrospective, The Fine Art Society, London, 2016
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Literature:
• Keith Bruce, 'All Fired Up Again', Herald, 8 October
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• Gerald Laing, 'Artist’s Notes on War Paintings', unpublished manuscript, 2004
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• David Eb, 'Gerald Laing at Spike', Art in America, September
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• Gerald Laing 1936–2011: A Retrospective, exhibition catalogue, The Fine Art Society, 2016
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Selected Citations and Comments

His bold lines and bright, unmodulated colours lend themselves well to these images, which constitute a searing critique not only of the Iraq war, but also of U.S. priorities and values and the American Dream. Setting the tone for the exhibition, Awe Shucks (2004) shows at the centre of the composition a pixilated figure of George W. Bush jauntily strolling down a red carpet. The exploding bombs and smouldering buildings all around him - based on video stills from the ‘Shock and Awe’ phase of the invasion - are rendered as mere backdrop to the pomp and ceremony of the scene.

David Eb, Gerald Laing at Spike', Art In America, September, 2005