GERALD LAING

Selected 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.

Gerald Laing, 1971: Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1971

Perhaps 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.

Alasdair Mackintosh, 1971: Gerald Laing, exhibition catalogue, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1971