Robert Longo

This catalogue focuses on Robert Longo’s (born 1953) recent series of charcoal drawings of well-known Abstract Expressionist paintings. The original paintings are immediately recognizable, but it is the overlooked or imperceptible details of the complex surface, the tactility of the paint, the brushstrokes and the pattern of the canvas that Longo has made visible in his translation from color to black and white, paint to charcoal. Exploring his ambivalence toward painting, Longo’s drawings address the historical magnitude of Abstract Expressionism in art-historical and cultural contexts. Along with the Abstract Expressionist drawings, the book includes Longo’s enormous seven-panel drawing of the US Capitol building and a 17-foot high black wax– surfaced sculpture of an American flag that appears to collapse into or fall through the floor.