GERALD LAING

Selected Citations and Comments

Commissioned for the Standard Life offices in Lothian Road, Edinburgh. The theme of the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins was shared with two of Laing’s other works for Standard Life, Frieze of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (cat. number 411) and Axis Mundi (cat. number 550).

, ,

In The Glass Virgins (1999) the Wise Virgins express various forms of strength and ecstasy; they know who they are and where they are going. The Foolish Virgins show weakness, confusion and vacillation. Both Wise and Foolish Virgins are individuals who differ from one another…
The cloud forms above these figures echoing their concerns in form, rhythm and texture; the central Wise Virgin displays the image for God which is common to all three sculptures, and the central Foolish Virgin is dominated by a serpent with its reference to self-devouring, infinity, and the fall.
The contrast between the solid and opaque and constant symbols above these figures, and the fugitive quality of the figures themselves as they appear, disappear and re-form in the changing light is a metaphor for the transitory nature of human existence.

Gerald Laing, Standard Life's Wise and Foolish Virgin Sculptures, leaflet, 1999