
Gerald Laing 1936-2011
Starlet, 1968
from the 'Baby Baby Wild Things portfolio'
signed, titled, dated and numbered 107/200 in pencil to margin
signed, titled, dated and numbered 107/200 in pencil to margin
screenprint
printed and published by the artist (with his blindstamp)
printed and published by the artist (with his blindstamp)
edition of 200
sheet: 35 x 23 inches
'Baby Baby Wild Things is the name of an all girl rock group formed by Galina and some of her friends. They did not get far with it. As I...
"Baby Baby Wild Things is the name of an all girl rock group formed by Galina and some of her friends. They did not get far with it. As I remember, the only really proficient musician among them played the French horn which, when you think of it, was unusual. There were rehearsals but the group never played in public.
The screenprints are all based on paintings made between 1963 and 1967. The sources were magazine photographs; not hardcore or even girlie mags, but "happy days" images. The iconography of attraction is essentially bourgeois. The perfection is unworldly, unreal. The references are as much to the smooth fiberglass shells of a Formula One car as they are to human bodies: the bands of colour on the swimsuits are kin to the racing stripes on a Lotus. The self absorption of the subjects reinforces their inaccessible and mysterious nature in the same way that the working of a complex and beautiful piece of technology might remain beyond comprehension yet at the same time be convincing." – G L
The screenprints are all based on paintings made between 1963 and 1967. The sources were magazine photographs; not hardcore or even girlie mags, but "happy days" images. The iconography of attraction is essentially bourgeois. The perfection is unworldly, unreal. The references are as much to the smooth fiberglass shells of a Formula One car as they are to human bodies: the bands of colour on the swimsuits are kin to the racing stripes on a Lotus. The self absorption of the subjects reinforces their inaccessible and mysterious nature in the same way that the working of a complex and beautiful piece of technology might remain beyond comprehension yet at the same time be convincing." – G L
Provenance
The artist's estate, catalogue raisonné no. P24 (Ingram and Halliwell 023)Literature
Rupert Halliwell & Lyndsey Ingram, Gerald Laing: Prints and Multiples, A Catalogue Raisonné (London, 2006)
Gerald Laing: Graphics, exh. catalogue, Morton Metropolis (London, 2010)