Robert Longo (b. 1953)

‘I think the centre point of my work comes from the time of my life when I went from being a boy to a man, from around 9 to maybe 16 years old … During that time television was a major influence. I guess it’s important to point out that my family only had a black-and-white set. I was part of the first generation where TV functioned as my babysitter. I was exposed to a new kind of endless flow of images. Another contributing factor was that as a child I didn’t read. I was dyslexic; it was a struggle for me … As a result I had no literary narrative structure in my life. Instead, one of my great pleasures were picture magazines, like “Life” and “Look.” I came of age in the new era of hyper photojournalism and constant TV news broadcasts. I remember watching Kennedy being shot on TV. This was my visual landscape. In black and white.’
- Robert Longo