Gerald Laing b. 1936

Acquired directly from the Artist by the present owner

Laing is unusual amongst British pop artists in that having moved to New York in 1964, all his pop work was produced in an American rather than British context. His initial imagery, which drew on newspaper representation of movie stars, developed into work based around the issues of perception of glamour in roles such as drag racers, astronauts and skydivers. The images are highly stylized and provide an interesting complement to the contemporary work of Peter Phillips with whom Laing later collaborated on Hybrid, a project where the resultant work was dictated by the demands of consumers. 

The canvases of this period are frequently characterised by the contrast between the flat colours of the background and the Benday dot-derived system of rendering images from popular newspaper and magazine imagery. In the present work, the image of the drag racer, seen head on and literally burning towards the viewer with all the intimation of full speed, is simultaneously an image of bravado, style and recklessness. The mirrored goggles of the driver are echoed by the gaping ports of the triple racing carburettor, bringing the concept of man and machine in unity flying right into the face of the viewer.