Artist Robert Longo presents a new exhibition at Pace Gallery, featuring his signature large-scale, hyperrealistic drawings that address themes of brutality, conflict, and protest. The show is a revised version of a 2023 exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum, with works based on media images of events such as the war in Ukraine, Black Lives Matter protests, and migrant crises. The article critically examines several pieces, including "Untitled (Ferguson Police, August 13, 2014)" and "Untitled (Refugees at Mediterranean Sea, Sub-Saharan Migrants, July 25, 2017)," arguing that Longo's manipulations of source photographs result in melodramatic and dishonest representations.
The review matters because it challenges Longo's self-positioning as a truth-teller, accusing his work of being glib and evasive despite its technical virtuosity. It contrasts Longo's current output with his earlier, more ambiguous works from the Pictures Generation era, such as "Men in the Cities," suggesting a decline in artistic depth. This critique raises broader questions about the ethics of appropriating and altering traumatic news imagery in contemporary art.