With his print, Kaslo Walk, William Laing examines issues of isolation and solitude, the figure/landscape relationship and the internal human landscape. The print is part of a series of paintings and prints that reference the artist’s summers spent fishing and hiking in serene quiet of the Kootenay area of British Columbia. In the image, the jacket hovers above a patterned surface that references both, the wooden floor of the cabin where the jacket hangs and the still water where the artist goes fishing. To describe his work, Laing quotes poet, Guiseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970) “When we become accustomed to a subject, we forget the knowledge which made us know its very secret, and it is at this stage of forgetfulness that it is reborn for us and becomes naïve and poetic.”

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1944, William Laing received a Fine Arts diploma from the Vancouver School of Art in 1971. In 1974 he earned a Master of Fine Art from the Royal Collage of Art in England. He has had solo exhibitions across Canada since 1971 and his work has been included in over 400 group exhibitions. His artwork is held in numerous public and private collections around the world. Laing is a printmaking and drawing professor and Coordinator of the Printmaking Department at the University of Calgary. In 1993, the artist donated a series of eight screen prints to the Richmond Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection, of which Kaslo Walk was included.