Robert Longo Untitled (Samson), 201

Robert Longo (b. 1953, New York) is known for his large-scale, hyper-realistic charcoal drawings based on media imagery that reflect on the construction of symbols of power and authority. The process of transposing an image from one medium to another is crucial for Longo: ‘a photograph is recorded in an instant,’ he explains, but ‘a drawing takes months to make.’ In doing so, he slows down both the artist’s and the viewer’s relationship to the image, allowing us to ‘consume its full power’. In Untitled (Samson) (2021), the panther’s head dominates the entire picture plane. The steeliness of its gaze contrasts with the palpable softness of its fur, which the artist has rendered in meticulous detail, while the delicate chiaroscuro exposes at once the fragility of the medium and the vulnerability that lies behind all images of power.