Gerald Laing

Gerald Ogilvie-Laing was a British pop artist and sculptor. He lived in the Scottish Highlands.

Laing's career took him from the avant-garde world of 1960s pop art, through minimalist sculpture, followed by representational sculpture and then back full circle to his pop art roots. He also taught sculpture at the University of New Mexico and at Columbia University in New York City.

In 1993 the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh staged a retrospective exhibition of his work.

In 2012 Sims Reed Gallery staged an exhibition of his prints and multiples, his most comprehensive show of work to date.

Laing did a series of anti-war paintings, based primarily on photographs from the atrocities at Abu Ghraib. These paintings were the beginning of his return to pop art. They were followed in 2004 by a series of Amy Winehouse paintings, as well as a painting of Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss.

On 19 February 2012 a bronze sculpture by Laing, Dreamer, was stolen from Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.

In February 2014, Laing's Brigitte Bardot painting from 1963 work sold for £902,500 in an auction at Christie's in London, a record sum for the artist.

Sims Reed Gallery represents the Estate of Gerald Laing.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023