Robert Longo, born in 1953, is an American artist who is best known for his drawings and prints. Longo’s most iconic work is his 1980s series Men in the Cities, comprised of black and white drawings of suit-clad businessman in emphatically contorted body positions. The style references the graphic aesthetic of rock n’ roll, yet juxtaposes it with unlikely subjects in a critical attack on contemporary American culture through the appropriation of disparate elements. … (read more)

Robert Longo, born in 1953, is an American artist who is best known for his drawings and prints. Longo’s most iconic work is his 1980s series Men in the Cities, comprised of black and white drawings of suit-clad businessman in emphatically contorted body positions. The style references the graphic aesthetic of rock n’ roll, yet juxtaposes it with unlikely subjects in a critical attack on contemporary American culture through the appropriation of disparate elements.

In an interview with Mary Haus, Longo described the work of this period as: “…a way of critiquing what was American. I wanted to take an aggressive position in a culture that I thought was sick.” Longo’s career also consists of directing several music videos and the 1995 feature film Johnny Mnemonic. Drawing, however, seems to be his medium of choice. Longo’s most recent works are large-scale charcoal drawings, decidedly more abstract but possessing the same graphic visceral quality as his earlier works.

Read a 2003 interview with Longo for Artforum conducted by Mary Haus

Read a review of Longo's 2007 exhibition at Metro Pictures Gallery

Watch Longo discuss the photographs that inspired his Men in the Cities series (1979) [via iksmedienarchiv]:

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