Robert Longo, “(Eric), from ‘Men in the Cities’ series”, 2014

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Robert Longo is not known as a photographer but primarily as a graphic artist who works with graphite and charcoal on paper. This image would be considered a preparatory photograph for one of a series of large drawings, but it has its own greatness as a photograph. The black and white drawings eliminate the buildings in the background further isolating — vignetting — the figure in its contorted position. But the photos invite you to look at a more immediate odd, ecstatic dance arranged by and for the artist.

Cindy Sherman was one of his rooftop models, ”Robert shot us in free fall, looking like we were dead. A feeling of force and energy emanates from these photographs. Now I see their choreographic aspect. I see youthful optimism. Creating these poses became a sort of dance, and I think that’s why I remember having such a good time.”*1.

These behave like mad hieroglyphic representations of an odd blip in time, the end of the twentieth century, capturing a tension between violence and lightness, ambiguous but uniquely of the moment.

*1 2009 statement in ”Men in the Cities”, Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2015.

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