Robert Longo's Cinematic Works

The artist’s charcoal-on-paper works, epic in both subject matter and scale, are on view in an exhibition, opening on Aug. 7, at Guild Hall, in East Hampton.

Robert Longo is a key figure of the Pictures Generation, an influential group of American artists who gave image-making conceptual cred starting in the late seventies. He is best known for his cinematic charcoal-on-paper works, epic in both subject matter—the eternal mysteries of the sea, in the case of “Untitled (Rumi),” from 2019, above—and scale (the magnificent hand-drawn piece is more than seven feet high). The exhibition “Robert Longo: A History of the Present” opens on Aug. 7 at Guild Hall, in East Hampton, New York.