The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Exhibition of Perth artist’ s work opens
An exhibition of the work of Perth artist Sandy Laing, who died earlier this year, has opened in London.
Sandy, who was 73, studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, and graduated from the Royal College of Art in London.
He also spent many years as a professor at Shih Chien University in Taipei, Taiwan.
The exhibition at Highgate Scientific and Literary Society features unseen work he created in his final three years.
Much of it focuses on the clash between high and low culture which resulted from the arrival of commercial television in the UK and its interaction with the more traditional BBC.
His son Patrick said: “Not unlike the rise of the internet, television offered a reward of the global world in all its strangeness.
“Much work includes the use of collage and found objects that allow for a visual narrative of polarities.”
Among the paintings on show is Breakfast On Mars, created from acrylic paint and mixed media in 2021, and The Tide Going Out On Trump from the same year.
Sandy was educated at Craigie School and Perth High School before choosing to study illustration in Dundee.
In his third year, following a conversation with renowned artist Alberto Morrocco, he switched to painting and, in 1971, was offered at place at the painting school of Royal College of Art in London.
That year he married Maureen Dunbar, who had grown up close to him in Perth.
After holding senior posts in academia across the UK, Sandy and his family settled in Highgate, London, when he was appointed senior lecturer at the University of the Arts London.
In 2005 he was offered a one-year exchange contract in Taipei, which lasted for 11 years during which time he split his time between London and Taiwan.
During his time at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Sandy produced a number of paintings, one of which, The Cowboy, is on loan to the Jacqui Wood Cancer Centre at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee.