Robert Longo: Charcoal, Volume 2 - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Astonishing, hyperrealistic black-and-white drawings of wings, urban landscapes, x-rayed paintings and more

A sequel to the 2011 publication, Charcoal Volume 2 presents the charcoal drawings of American artist Robert Longo (born 1953) from 2012 to the present. This large-format, elaborately designed catalog--printed on natural paper using a tritone process and bound in half linen--is a continuation of the first volume. It includes his recent series from the past 10 years such as Death from Above (2012-16), Hungry Ghosts (2015-17) and the Destroyer Cycle (2016-20). Together, they form a comprehensive compendium of this central oeuvre by the legendary New York artist, who was a key figure in founding the Pictures Generation in the 1980s and also directed some of the most iconic music videos of the decade. In this new catalog, essays by Tim Griffin and Haley Mellin address the existential questions of our time that are at the heart of these new, large-scale, hyperrealistic drawings: war, violence, capitalism, the rising division of American society and the possibilities of political protest and individual freedom in the face of the overwhelming power of the media.

Review Quotes

Art doesn't get more basic than charcoal drawings, unless it's those scratched in the dirt with a stick. In the cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc in France, the charcoal drawings are (perhaps) 32,000 years old. Mr. Longo's hyper-realistic drawings here are a bit more recent, though no less lively. Many of them dwell on nature: skyscraper waves out of a surfer's dream, and razor-mouthed sharks out of a surfer's nightmare; white tigers and vast nebulas; and mushroom clouds as if drafted by Georgia O'Keeffe.--Dana Jennings -The New York Times -

Three essays explain how Longo's recurring themes - such as monster waves, the -sickness of reason- in nuclear explosions, and sharks as -perfect Gods- - typically capture moments of climax, tap into the collective unconscious and ask questions about how power achieves its effects. The overbearing scale of many of the drawings is consonant with those concerns.--Paul Carey-Kent -The Art Newspaper -