Robert Longo's display at Pace Gallery falls short of making an impactful impression
Robert Longo, a contemporary artist renowned for his minutely detailed and large drawings addressing forms of brutality, conflict, and protest, both within the United States and abroad, is currently exhibited at the Pace Gallery. The show, titled "The Weight of Hope," is a revised version of an exhibition last year at the Milwaukee Art Museum and runs from July 25 to September 27, 2025.
Longo's works in the Pace show tell a story that audiences may already be familiar with: Something is rotten in the state of America. The new film at Pace, Untitled (Image Storm, July 4, 2024-September 9, 2025), features a flow of 10,000 images that speed by so quickly they are incomprehensible, which could be a metaphor for the rapid-fire nature of our present media environment.
One of the most striking pieces in the exhibition is Untitled (Refugees at Mediterranean Sea, Sub-Saharan Migrants, July 25, 2017), a drawing based on a widely circulated press photograph. In this work, Longo manipulates the image to push the migrants further toward the picture's margins, emphasising the precariousness of their situation.
Another notable work is "Untitled (Daytona Crash)", where NASCAR is described as a metaphor for the American war machine. The armored police in Longo's drawing titled Untitled (Ferguson Police, August 13, 2014) are a stark reminder of the ongoing struggle for racial justice in America.
The redrawn Goya painting in the Pace show comes with wall text referring to a comment by Longo on Gaza, highlighting the artist's commitment to addressing global issues. However, the significance of a particular image, a shot of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestine protest leader detained by ICE, in the film context is unclear.
Robert Longo's art is positioned as an honest portrayal of how power works. His drawings are based on images sourced from the media and licensed for his own use. The artist's most famous work is "Men in the Cities", a series of drawings showing people dressed in business formal who twist dramatically through white voids.
Michael Armitage's Raft (ii) is a painting that features migrants drifting through the ocean, and it is underplayed and unresolved compared to Longo's drawing on the same subject. This juxtaposition serves to emphasise the stark contrast between the artist's approaches and the gravity of the issues they address.
Longo was once a member of the Pictures Generation artists, who harvested images from various sources for their work during the late 1970s and early 1980s. During that period, Longo's work was warmer, weirder, and distinctly handmade compared to his colleagues Cindy Sherman, Sherrie Levine, and Louise Lawler.
In conclusion, Robert Longo's "The Weight of Hope" at Pace Gallery is a powerful and thought-provoking exhibition that serves as a mirror to the world we live in, reflecting the struggles, conflicts, and injustices that continue to plague society.
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