After moving to the Scottish Highlands in 1969, Gerald Laing began to produce sculptures inspired by the wild and spacious landscape and by ancient features such as standing stones. He admired the "quiet authority" of standing stones and tried to replicate this quality in his own sculpture. The pyramid occurs frequently in Laing?s work of the early 1970s - here its solidity is pierced by a doorway-like shape. Having previously lived in New York for several years, the use of polished steel for this work suggests the influence of industrialisation on Laing?s sculpture.
Gerald Laing (Scottish, 1936 - 2011)
Gerald Laing became known for his Pop Art images produced from 1962 to 1965, begun whilst he was still a student at St Martin?s School of Art in London. Living in New York City from 1965 to 1969, Laing progressed to making abstract sculptures in polished metal. In 1969 he moved to Scotland, where he established a tapestry workshop and rebuilt Kinkell Castle in Ross and Cromarty from ruins. Inspired by the Scottish landscape, he began to make large abstract welded steel sculptures. Laing was also well-known for his public art commissions. In 1971 he created `Callanish?, a series of sculptures on the campus of Strathclyde University in Glasgow which are inspired by Neolithic standing stones on the Isle of Lewis.