ROBERT LONGO (B. 1953)

"Of course John is an incredibly important and influential artist. But more importantly for me, he has always been incredibly generous and supportive of me and my work. On my first trip to L.A. as an artist, he invited me to crash at his studio. I remember the endless tables with books and materials stacked all over the place. Although I never had him as a teacher, many of my close artist friends like Matt Mullican, David Salle, Troy Brauntuch and Jack Goldstein had him as their mentor. We were all in a show back in 1980 that John curated, called Masters of Love. I always find it flattering that some people thought I went to CalArts, mainly because of the influence he had on all of us."-Robert Longo