Laing was born in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1936. He studied at Saint Martin’s School of Art, under Aaron Scharf and following this he emerged as one of the leading British Pop Artists of the 1960’s.

He began producing works inspired by commercial images, his first pieces of the 1960s taking as their subject matter the imagery of newspapers; posed images of young ‘starlets’ or bikini girls make striking art works full of sex appeal. Laing reproduced the dotted effect of newspaper images in his screenprints, using tonal variations to model the figures. Produced with painstaking accuracy, and dedication to producing three-dimensional illusionism, the desired effect was also paradoxically to resemble the mass produced printed picture. Images of popular culture pervaded his prints of the 60’s with stars, starlets, astronauts, skydivers and dragsters. All capture a sense of excitement and exuberance, as icons of the decade.

In 1963, Laing met Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rosenquist, and Indiana before their ensuing stardom on visiting New York; all of whom used screenprinting as a major method of working. Indiana’s use of flat, strong planes of colour, and his slick, precise style influenced his work. Laing returned to England and exhibited in a one man show named ‘Space, Speed and Sex’ at the ICA, before returning to the USA to exhibit at Richard Feigen’s gallery, along with other British Pop Artists in 1964.

Laing was not solely involved in Pop Art, but also pursued abstract art, as well as sculpture. His figurative works are traditionally masterful, while his futuristic pieces show a deft ability to manipulate metal, and create a sense of movement and speed in staticity. There has consistently been a political awareness in Laing’s work, depicting in recent works, with a stark frankness, scenes of brutality related to the Iraq war. Laing lives and works in Britain and continues to produce works in his Pop aesthetic, with his most recent works depicting images of Amy Winehouse and Kate Moss.