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The Artist Profile Archive will launch a new documentary featuring artist Robert Longo on August 31 in conjunction with his Guild Hall exhibition, "A History of the Present."
Robert Longo's studio. COURTESY THE ARTIST PROFILE ARCHIVE
According to Robert Longo, making art is a political gesture. Artists report on the time they live in, but in a non-documentarian way — free of sponsorship, offering highly subjective views of the world.
Through this process, art saved Longo’s life, he said. In it, he discovered self love.
In the latest installment of “The Artist Profile Archive,” founder Sophie Chahinian sits down with the contemporary charcoal artist to discuss his 40-year career, his artistic process and current exhibition at Guild Hall in East Hampton, which will screen the film on August 31, followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker and artist, moderated by curator Christina Strassfield.
“We live in this world of an incredible image storm. How do you get people to look at things more carefully?” Longo says in the film. “People look at my drawings and say, ‘Oh, they’re photographs,’ and someone says, ‘They’re not photographs, they’re charcoal drawings.’ … That gets people to stop and look closer. That’s the way to get people to look harder, more in-depth.”
For more information, visit theartistprofilearchive.com or guildhall.org.
Michelle Trauring on Aug 10, 2021