Robert Longo’s Cinematic Works

The artist’s charcoal-on-paper works, epic in both subject matter and scale, are on view in an exhibition, opening on Aug. 7, at Guild Hall, in East Hampton.
Jellyfish
Art work courtesy the artist / Metro Pictures / Pace Gallery

Robert Longo is a key figure of the Pictures Generation, an influential group of American artists who gave image-making conceptual cred starting in the late seventies. He is best known for his cinematic charcoal-on-paper works, epic in both subject matter—the eternal mysteries of the sea, in the case of “Untitled (Rumi),” from 2019, above—and scale (the magnificent hand-drawn piece is more than seven feet high). The exhibition “Robert Longo: A History of the Present” opens on Aug. 7 at Guild Hall, in East Hampton, New York.