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.