About the Work
This image is part of Longo’s series Monsters (2000-2004), which was featured at the 2004 Whitney Biennial. In it, he depicts massive waves breaking with expressionistic, sweeping gestures of his hand. The virtuosity of this hand is evident in all of Longo's compositions; oftentimes, his drawings are almost impossible to distinguish from his photographic works.
The work was created to benefit Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
About the Artist
Robert Longo is a Brooklyn-based artist, filmmaker, and musician known for his photo-realistic drawings and works on paper which examine the role of politics and power in our society. Deeply influenced by sculpture, his drawings—which are marked by chiseled lines—almost seem three-dimensional, as if they could pop off the page and enter physical space at any time.
Recognized at a young age for his talent, Longo received a grant to study at the Accademia di Belle Arte in Florence, Italy, in 1972. Upon his return to the States, he enrolled in Buffalo State University, where he studied along with fellow-student Cindy Sherman. After his graduation in 1975, Longo moved to New York City to become part of the infamous downtown art and music scene. In the 1980s, he became well known for his Men in the Cities series, which depicts sharply dressed businessmen (and a few women) writhing in contorted agony or ecstasy (depending on your reading), and silhouetted against a stark white background like dancers in a sound studio. He continued working on series after series, one in which he created 366 drawings (one per day) that documented his life and absorption of outside images.
Longo’s work has been exhibited at numerous major international venues, and his performances and set designs have appeared around the world. He was the subject of retrospectives at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois; and Museum Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal. A participant in both the Whitney Biennial and the Venice Biennale, as well as at recent group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and PS1 Contemporary Art Center in New York, Longo’s work has received numerous reviews in publications such as The New York Times, Interview, Art in America, Forbes, and New York Magazine.
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