Milwaukee Art Museum opens the "Robert Longo: The Acceleration of History" exhibition with nearly 40 works by the Brooklyn-born artist, including monumental drawings, sculptures and videos created in the last decade, on Oct. 25.
The show, which runs through Feb. 23 in the Baker/Rowland Galleries, was curated by MAM's Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Margaret Andera.
While museum's around the world have shown Longo's work, many know him best as the director of music videos, including for New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" in 1986 and R.E.M.’s “The One I Love” in 1987, and his 1955 film "Johnny Mnemonic," starring Keanu Reeves, Ice-T and Henry Rollins.
In fact, during the exhibition, Milwaukee Film will screen "Johnny Mnemonic: In Black and White" at the Oriental Theatre on Nov. 21 and Longo will be there to take part in a discussion.
“Robert Longo’s work is visually compelling in its exceptional detail and powerful in its reflection of his view of contemporary culture. In this age of constant immersion of images from advertisements to news footage, Longo’s drawings break through the visual deluge in captivating ways,” said Marcelle Polednik, PhD, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director.
“We look forward to engaging our audiences with his most recent body of work, a long-overdue and distinct opportunity.”
Born in 1953 Longo first gained prominence in the 1980s as part of the Pictures Generation with Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger.
Later, he became known for his monumental charcoal drawings of animals and nature, as well as global protest movements and conflicts.
“Robert Longo’s ability to capture both the essence and experience of an image through his monumental charcoal drawings is unparalleled,” said Andera.
“His subject matter can range from the profound, to the inspiring, to the tragic, and the works resonate with a power that comes from the combination of Longo’s thorough consideration of the image and his meticulous technique.”
The MAM show is Longo's first solo exhibition in the Midwest in more than 30 years. Featured prominently in the show is Longo’s "The Destroyer Cycle" series begun in 2014, as well as works from other series, like "Hungry Ghosts" and "Gang of Cosmos," and his 21-foot-diameter 2022 installation "Death Star; The Year of 2018," made from 40,000 .308 caliber bullets representing the number of gun-related deaths in 2017), aluminum, steel l-beams and chains.
Milwaukee Art Museum has two 1983 Longo lithographs in its collection and on Sept. 21, it will honor the arist as its 2024 honoree at the annual Art:Forward Gala museum benefit.
An exhibition catalog is also being published and includes essays by Andera, journalist Tom Teicholz and artist Rashid Johnson.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
