Robert Longo Interview: I am an Image Thief

Does copying other prominent artists such as Jackson Pollock really make you an artist? Find out in our interview with American painter Robert Longo, who calls himself an image thief.
When Robert Longo embarked on the project of copying several iconic pieces of art, the artists gave their permission and the museums opened up their doors to him. Each piece was photographed at least fifty times, as Longo sought to capture all the details, trying to understand what was going on and what had happened: “It was like seeing the set for an murder investigation.”
“Making art is like this process that is a balance between something that is very personal but also socially relevant,” Longo continues. This is why the pieces of art featured in the show, which is presented in this video interview, represent abstract works, which he has a personal attachment to. The works are from between 1948-1963 (post-World War Two) and embody the freedom of leaving behind Old World Europe as well as the hope of what America could be. Moreover, they parallel Longo’s own life as he was born in 1953.
Playing with texture, investigating the performative nature of 20th century painting and translating works into black and white from colour photographs with the use of charcoal, are at the core of what attracts Longo, who likes “the twist of making a charcoal drawing based from a photograph of a painting.” This is furthermore something that he has mastered in such a degree, that it is often hard to tell his drawings from the paintings - or photographs - he is copying: “I finally got really sick of people looking at my drawings and telling me they really like my photographs.”
Robert Longo (born 1953) is a New York-born and raised painter and sculptor, who was part of the New York City underground art scene of the 1970’s. It was in the 1980’s, however, that Longo became widely known for his ‘Men in the Cities’ series, which depicted sharply dressed men and women in twisted positions. He has had retrospective exhibitions at places such as the Hamburger Kunstverein and Deichtorhallen, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Isetan Museum of Art in Tokyo. His work is represented in collections of The Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Stedelik Museum in Amsterdam, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Albertina in Vienna and the Ludwig Museum in Cologne. Robert Longo was the recipient of the Goslar Kaiserring in 2005. He is also a co-founder and member of the band X PATSYS, in which one of the other six members is his wife, Barbara Sukowa. He lives with his wife and their three sons in New York.
Robert Longo was interviewed by Jesper Bundgaard/Out of Sync at Petzel Gallery, New York.
Camera & edit: Per Henriksen, Out of Sync
Produced by: Out of Sync and Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2014
Supported by Nordea-fonden

[@thewalkingsketchbook]

Love this guy, “I’m an abstract artist working representationally.”

[@mikedunkle6709]

that was so cool, those works are incredible, such concentration to detail...just wonderful...

[@anoshya]

Just like a Debussy piece of music art can never be explained…perhaps there to lift the spirit…

[@Acquavallo]

Amazing work! I want it, I want it in my house so bad

[@donnybrooklads]

Robert has helpers working on these works but he oversees everything and has input on every piece work. He used a graphic artist to help with some of the rendering on his Men in the Cities works 1980.

[@BenedictHarris]

John Turturro, strollin 'around.

[@CarlEuegene]

I don't understand. Why? What is the purpose?

[@JacksonPolyp]

John Turturro in the mavafakin house

[@ed_leonardi]

Longo is a genius!!!

[@patriciabonilla467]

Rawless beauty

[@tubeberk08]

he compared the mid west Tea Party to Nazis? what an arrogant, elitist NYC point of view.

[@reinaldosanguino]

tubeberk08 I don’t think he is that far off

[@sunburnramthem2373]

yes

[@Stgfre]

What is Roberts Longo's ethnicity? Based on his surname, I speculate he is of spanish descent, either fully or partially.

[@donnybrooklads]

Italian ancestors

[@reymontcantil199]

brilliant.

[@TheNopeDude]

He says "9 men, 3 women, 1 African-American". 😔

[@aisforambessa]

I swear I head him say 'white men' somewhere right near there - maybe it was somewhere else in the piece. I went back and listened ~3:47. What if he said, "9 men, 3 women. 1 African American...a lot of the painters were Jewish..." Or might that be hoping too much?

[@donnybrooklads]

Guys if you knew Robert you'd know he's one of the most socially conscious fairest human alive. Would never discriminate. You have my word.

[@piemakerproductions]

Oh boo hoo!

[@luiscuixara4622]

@@piemakerproductions

[@Vonmusikstein]

Maybe he is saying that one of the men or the women is an African-American.

[@JadenJahci]

Respectfully,...if I may say,..that if this artist re-did a Richard Prince "one liner" in black and white, ...maybe,... just maybe, i would have thought he had some potential to be an original. Sincerely, Leo Castelli

[@henrybogle8437]

Genius

[@kayem3824]

You don't have to say these things.

[@frederickedeh8664]

painting is a brillant way to rip people off their money.

[@cherrio291]

+frederick edeh Boy, you don't mind McDonald's ripping you off your money but you critisize artists!! How primitive are you!!!!!!

[@luiscuixara4622]

@@cherrio291 And I bet he's no smarter, 5 years later.

[@feralmode]

Dude, don’t you realize this art idea has been done to absolute death? If you’ve got nothing to add to the conversation sometimes it’s best to shut up

[@capt.molyneaux7037]

A washed-up artist.

[@tokyohalogen]

Vino I've never even heard of you.

[@feralmode]

Brandon Floyd I’ve never heard of you

[@luiscuixara4622]

@@feralmode I've never heard of you.

[@dandog7840]

copy work is not new art since Duchamp did it first , as a statement,, a hundred years ago..this guy is more a liar than a thief

[@luiscuixara4622]

So, what do you think of Richard Pettibone?