Robert Longo Figurative Sculptures

Very rare cast. (edition of 1 or 2) This work was featured in an article "The Appropriation of Marginal Art in the 1980s Author: Donald Kuspit Source: American Art, Vol. 5, No. 1/2 (Winter - Spring, 1991), pp. 132-141 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. This appears to be modeled after a figure by HR Giger. it was cast by Polich Tallix Foundry. Born in Brooklyn, 1953 Robert Longo became synonymous with American pictorial art during the 80s, his ambitious large-scale works seemingly synchronized with the booming economy and boisterous values of the Reagan era. In 1974, whilst studying at State University College, Buffalo, Longo co-founded Hallwalls. As a studio and exhibition space for contemporary art, Hallwalls was the precursor of Longo's ongoing concern for utilizing art's multi-disciplinary potential. His partner in this venture was Cindy ShermanAfter graduation Longo showed in 1979 at The Kitchen, a downtown space which encouraged artistic experimentation and collaboration. In the following year, he had his first one-person exhibition in Europe, at Studio d'Arte Cannaviello in Milan. Since then, Longo has shown continuously in Europe and America. However, it was his first solo exhibition at Metro Pictures, New York, in 1981 that brought him international critical acclaim. This installation of Men in the Cities presented his charcoal, graphite and dye studies of office workersThis interruption of a smooth linear reading, notably used in Dada and Surrealist collage, undermines assumptions, whether they be cultural, social or political. In 'Men in the Cities' Longo cuts anonymous people from their environments, then splices their portraits in amongst blocks of buildings. The association is made between the private and the corporate, the human and the industrial, the fragile and the impervious. Engagement with the social and political can be seen in Longo's work throughout the 80s, setting him apart from fellow artists David Salle and Julian Schnabel. Following a major retrospective at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1989, Longo began to focus on single themes, rather than montages of associations. Furthermore, he moved to Paris the following year. The 'Black Flag' series resulted from this change in direction, and location. Taking the Stars and Stripes as his subject, Longo re-worked the treatment of the spangled banner by Pop artist Jasper Johns. J Longo is a multi talented artist who works equally successfully in a variety of media. He is equally well known as a sculptor and film director as he is as a draftsman/painter, and like the best of the contemporary film directors, his aim is to seduce, elucidate, transform, and instruct. SELECTED PERMANENT COLLECTIONS Art Institute of Chicago, USA Guggenheim Museum, New York Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA Musee d'Art Contemporain, Montreal, Canada Museum of Modern Art, New York Saatchi Collection, London Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Tate Gallery, London Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 'Das Magellan Projekt', Kunsthalle Tubingen, Germany, 1997 'Das Magellan Projekt', Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1997 'Das Magellan Projekt', Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany, 1997 'Robert Longo: Kreuze', Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany, 1996 'Robert Longo: A Retrospective', The Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1995 'Robert Longo: A Retrospective', Ashikaga City Museum, Kirin Plaza Art Space, Osaka, Japan, 1995 'Faith in Zero' Project: Galerie Daniel Templon, Galerie Antoine Candau, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, A.B. Galleries, Galerie Gordon Pym et Fils, Paris, France, 1991 'Black Flags', Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, 1990 'Robert Longo 1976 - 1989', The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1989 'Robert Longo 1976 - 1989', Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA, 1989 'Robert Longo 1976 - 1989', Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, USA, 1989 'Sequences/Men in the Cities', University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, USA, 1986 'Sequences/Men in the Cities', Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, USA, 1986 'Sequences/Men in the Cities', Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, 1986 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1985 Metro Pictures, New York, 1981 SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS La Biennale di Venezia: XLVII Esposizioione Internationale d'Arte, Venice, Italy, 1997 'Views From Abroad: European Perspectives on American Art 3', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1997 'Allegories of Modernism: Contemporary Drawing', The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992 'A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation', The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA, 1989 'Documenta 8', Kassel, Germany, 1987 L?epoque, La Mode, La Morale, La Passion, 1977 - 1987', Mus'e National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, 1987 "New York '85" (with Jasper Johns, Elsworth Kelly...