Miguel Laino was born in Spain and came to London in 2001 to do a degree in Fashion Womenswear at Central St Martin’s College. He went on to work with designers such as Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Hussain Chalayan, but in 2008, after seeing the Georg Baselitz retrospective at The Royal Academy he decided to commit himself to being a painter. This painting is based on an image of an Abu Ghraib prisoner which appeared in newspapers and online. Laino's title - American Experiment - refers to the dehumanisation of the other or the enemy through the perpetrator's experiments into extracting information. The dog is no longer 'man's best friend' but a symbol and instrument of fear and terror. Laino’s paintings were chosen by 8 curators in our recent 100 Curators project, and he was a top 10 finalist in our recent In Living Colour Showdown.
