Robert Longo – Hyperrealist Extraordinaire

Robert Longo – “Men in the Cities”

 

Robert Longo (born on January 7th, 1953) came of age during the Vietnam War, a time when a few important photographs dramatically changed the American zeitgeist forever.

In particular, Longo was influenced by the provocative photo of Kent State protesters being shot. Longo was a friend of a fallen protestor featured in the most famous photos from the time.

This one event, and the power of the photograph to capture it and transmit it around the world, helped define the artist’s relationship to his world and his own creative medium.

As an artist, his work is inherently political, driving at the profound social confrontations going on at any moment. It’s part of what gives his pieces the urgency and high stakes that have defined his body of work.

 

The Early Career of Robert Longo

Longo decided to pursue art while in college. As someone with dyslexia, he relied on a sports scholarship to attend. But he discovered his voice and sense of purpose in art class.

He bounced around to different institutions, beginning at University of North Texas but eventually finding his way to Buffalo State College. There, he met Cindy Sherman who would go on to become a notable collaborator of Longo’s and one of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century in her own right.

In fact, it was Longo who pushed Sherman to record her notorious outfits that she created for parties. The photographs she made of those outfits went on to become the “Untitled Film Stills” series.

Longo, Sherman and their group of budding artists helped open the Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center in a converted ice factory in Buffalo. It was there that Longo met with artists from New York City, and they convinced him to relocate to the metropolis.

In New York City, Longo found a thriving art scene, and he took full advantage of the opportunity. He fronted an experimental punk band called Robert Longo’s Menthol Wars, and he exhibited his work as much as he could.

It is in this exciting atmosphere that he launched the series that would change his career, and the contemporary art world, forever.

 

Men in the Cities Series

While not primarily a photographer, Longo’s hyperrealist drawings use photography as a basis. And this process led him to what remains one of his most important accomplishments: “Men in the Cities.” In this series, Longo took photographs of his friends in contorted positions. His models bent over, twisted their bodies and flailed their arms.

One of the models was none other than Cindy Sherman. “Robert shot us in free fall, looking like we were dead,” Sherman recalled in 2009. “A feeling of force and energy emanates from these photographs. Now I see their cho