Robert Longo American, b. 1953

Longo was born in Brooklyn in 1953, and received a grant to study at the Accademia di Belle Arte in Florence in 1972. Whilst continuing his education at Buffalo State University, he set up an avant garde gallery in a converted ice factory. After graduating, Longo moved to New York where he became part of the underground art scene. He rose to fame with his paintings of blackened American flags, and the Men in the Cities series that was also featured in American Psycho.

As an artist and filmmaker, Longo’s early childhood obsession with cartoons and pop culture is clearly referenced in his bold fusion of graphic and Fine Art. Addressing issues of masculinity, politics and power in our society, his vivid imagery includes shark attacks, nuclear explosions, roses in bloom, Freud’s living space and women wearing burkas.

He currently lives and works in New York.