Robert Longo’s Search for Truth and Meaning in a Fragmented World An interview with the artist
By Ana Novi
Robert Longo’s “Searchers,” on view at Thaddaeus Ropac and Pace, transforms galleries into a charged space of cinematic intensity—a place where art becomes an immersive confrontation, drawing viewers into a sensory storm of monumental scale and visceral impact. This two-part exhibition marks Longo’s return to his Combine format, a medium he explored in the 1980s to convey layered, often dissonant, images and meanings. Longo’s self-identification as a “searcher” infuses each piece, embodying his drive to confront the fragmented, image-saturated experience of contemporary life. Every work, in his words, acts as a ‘symbolic anatomy’ of the world, forming a composite body of head, chest, and gut that echoes the “endless scroll” of digital imagery. “I deliberately want these Combines to refuse to become coherent narratives”, Longo reflects. “What you see in these images is one picture, and you’re putting that together in your head.”
Longo‘s career vaulted into fame with Men in the Cities, an iconic series depicting figures in business attire caught in extreme, contorted poses—capturing moments that hover ambiguously between ecstasy and collapse. Inspired by cinematic and punk-rock influences, the works evoke both movement and tension, portraying an intense, almost theatrical embodiment of urban existentialism. These iconic works set the tone for his career-long engagement with themes of power, vulnerability, and societal tension. Informed by John Berger’s Ways of Seeing and Sergei Eisenstein’s montage theory, Searchers layers historical and cultural references with symbols of capitalism, nature, and human anguish. Works such as Untitled (Pilgrim) and Untitled (Hunter) encapsulate the “collision” of beauty and brutality, each piece echoing the swiping motion of digital interaction.
Meanwhile, Robert Longo’s retrospective at the Albertina Museum in Vienna is an immersive journey through Longo’s visual language. This exhibit offers a sweeping view of his work from 1980 to the present, underscoring what he calls “high points”—moments of personal and collective significance. Each monumental drawing, rendered with hyper-realistic detail, serves as a “report of being here and now”, as Longo explains. Reflecting on his approach, he adds, “I make these pictures because I want to see them… on a scale that takes your breath away, where you go, ‘Wow!’” The retrospective distills his vision, presenting images as monumental acts of introspection and social commentary.
In Longo’s words, he strives to “tell the truth” through these powerful visual meditations, compelling us not only to look but to truly “see”—to perceive our shared identity in a world of perpetual motion and digital echoes. Together, “Searchers” and the Albertina retrospective stand as dual expressions of his vision: one confronting the immediacy of the digital age, the other offering a timeless reflection on what it means to be both artist and human in a shifting cultural landscape. In a conversation with Whitewall that delves deeper into these themes, Robert Longo reflects on his journey, influences, and the relentless drive behind his craft.
