Robert longo
Untitled 2013
Robert Longo's untitled landscape drawing really caught my eye at the Frieze Fair in London.
It literally stopped me in my tracks and I thought 'what a great photograph' but on closer inspection I realised its actually charcoal drawn. The thing that really caught my eye was the spill of glorious light burning through the centre of trees. The delicate, dissolving edges of the light and trees work to bring the piece together and the dispersing light is made stronger by the single trunk placed dead centre. This is the most important part of the image. It does the job of holding the viewers gaze in the centre of the drawing and brings the viewer back after looking at the rest of the image.
The detail is excellent when studied closely and each blade of grass, leaf and stem can be seen. The picture is full of layers of drawing, depth and detail and the technical control of charcoal is superb.
He uses deep, dark areas of black and bright, glowing white areas to bring the all important contrast into the image making it appear three dimensional. His drawing is both delicate and deliberate.
He draws in a way that makes the living landscape he's concentrating on actually come alive on the paper in front of us.
Longo says he chose to work in black and white because 'Growing up, all the major newspaper stories, Vietnam, wars, riots etc, were always printed in B&W which he saw as really gritty, powerful pictures and he thought this was the best way to get a strong image across to the viewer.
Longo makes these pictures by first projecting the picture onto the paper canvas, then he draws the image in pencil, then (the interesting bit) he lets a hired illustrator draw the image for around a week before he finishes it with layers of charcoal. So, is the work really his? Of course it is! He has the skills to draw and complete these pictures without the help of others but the simple fact is he doesn't have the time to finish all the pieces he's working on. Lots of artists use assistants in their studios and I don't think thats a problem. Longo has the idea, works out the image, sorts the medium, directs the works and finishes the drawings.
He is the director...He is the artist.
At the moment there seems to be a trend for hyper-realistic drawing, taking a photo and drawing it exactly the same but Longo doesn't do this. His work, like the work of Chuck Close, stands out due to the soul they contain, the feeling and the life they have within them.
I never really understood the idea of photorealism, why not just use the actual photo?
Longo's work is excellent in all aspects, technical and beautifully drawn and very collectable at the moment. His tigers heads are selling for 1.5 million dollars each and his new series of wave images are really strong but the work I really like is from his book on Lucien Freud's apartment. I found this book a few weeks ago in the library by chance and loved it but didn't realise it was by the same man who made the drawings at frieze. The images are really strong and dark and give us a glimpse into the world Freud lived in and the place that surrounded him. The images look at the details, the un-noticed and everyday things and the environment that he worked in.
He has also just produced a new series of large drawings based on the most used hand guns in America. He got the details from the FBI.
The series was inspired by his son coming home after playing basketball and telling him there was a fight on the court between a black kid and a white kid. Half way through the fight a kid of about 6 walked to his bag and pulled a gun out and told everyone to 'F$*k Off' then he casually put the gun away and walked off to the shops. Longo's kid told him this was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen in his life "It was SO COOL!!' and Longo realised it was a perfect statement of the times we live in where young people are growing up thinking its cool to carry a gun.
My presentation raised a few discussions with the main one focussing on the use of projectors and assistants to help produce artists works.
Does this mean the art isn't made by the artist themselves or does it not actually matter? Is it cheating?
Damien Hirst uses assistants in nearly all of his works. His most famous is probably his dot paintings which are hardly ever done by himself. He even went as far as sending a client a preprepared box of paint, brushes and a stencil enabling the client to draw the whole thing himself. He didn't even meet the artist! Personally, I think the use of helpers is fine as long as the direction and control is in the hands of the artist which it is with Longo. He draws the first image, starts the work, moves onto another whilst an assistant works on it and then finishes the work himself. He has full control.
The other discussion was about the common development of photorealistic painting and drawing which is becoming really popular. The class was split, some like it whereas others commented "Why not just use a photograph". I'd have to agree with the second comment as I like a drawing to look like a drawing.
Longo's images are more than photorealistic though. He creates them with a unique look. They can be mistaken for photographs, as I did at Frieze, but on close inspection they have a unique look. The mistakes of photographs are gone in his drawings. Through his drawings we see a perfect example of what a photograph might show us.
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