Lot 20
Fair Market Value $1050
signed, titled and numbered along bottom;
dated on exhibition label verso;
framed with archival mat and plexiglass
23.75x20x1
Bill Laing has been known in the visual arts and academic communities as an artist prolific in several media: drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. Born in 1944 in Glasgow, Scotland, Laing attended educational institutions in Canada and in Great Britain. He studied at the Vancouver School of Art (currently Emily Carr University of Art + Design), at Brighton Polytechnic in England, and received a Master’s Degree in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art in London, U.K. in 1974. Laing immigrated to Calgary in 1974, where he joined the faculty of Alberta College of Art (currently Alberta College of Art + Design) and taught there until 1977. From 1977 to 2016, Laing had been a Professor of Printmaking at the Art Department of the University of Calgary, retiring with the rank of Professor Emeritus of Art. For the past 30 years, Laing’s works have undergone major transformations ranging from the works that are autobiographical in nature, relating to places either visited by the artist or that that have been source of his inspiration. These works – often rendered in a precise linear and two-dimensional manner – focus more on the formal and symbolic properties of the singular object on which he zoomed in his recent major series. In some prints, Laing has altered his usual format, making the print long and narrow to reflect the horizontality of the prairie landscape. Technique, superb craftsmanship, and scale reflect the rich tonal and linear qualities that support his timeless imagery. Laing’s prints have been showcased nationally and internationally in several prestigious international print festivals and have won the artist numerous prizes and awards. His works are held in a number of renowned print collections in Canada and abroad. Laing is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painters and Printmakers in London, UK.
