Robert Longo Directs Nicole Kidman

I thought of “Men in the Cities” like guitar chords of a punk rock song. - Robert Longo

Robert Longo acted as Creative Director when Nicole Kidman recreated images from the artist’s Men in the Cities series for a fashion shoot in W Magazine.

 

 

Kidman’s recent film, Babygirl, won her the Best Actress prize at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, in which she portrays a happily married wife and mother who has a torrid affair with an intern at her office.

 

“The whole process was bizarre, to re-create this stuff,” Longo said, in an interview in W. “But I think it looks pretty great. I mean, Nicole worked really hard. She really got it. There’s one picture where she’s just walking and turning. It’s all attitude—just so beautiful. It’s amazing how much meaning can come across in a gesture.”

 

Longo is best known for the 1980s Men in the Cities series, but has done so much more; he has directed films, videos and even headed a punk band in the 1970s. “If you’re lucky enough to get into art history books, you only get one image, unless you’re a major epic artist,” Longo said. “I am in art history books, but just for ‘Men in the Cities,’ not all the other stuff I did my whole life.”

 

Although Men in the Cities has a cult following, his recent works and exhibits are just as sensational. Last year his enormous drawings of the White House and other D.C. buildings were shown at the National Gallery in Washington.

 

A retrospective of his works is currently on exhibit at the Albertina Museum in Vienna and Robert Longo: The Acceleration of History, with monumental drawings depicting political and social topics in on view at the at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

 

Iconic works from the Men in the Cities series are available at VFA.

 

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 The United States Post Office issued a 2025 Love Stamp on January 17th that features a 1985 untitled work by Keith Haring. The stamp depicts two figures dancing under a heart in Haring’s inimitable style.

 

 

Last October  the Kutztown Area Historical Society dedicated a large historical marker in Haring's  honor, not far from Haring’s childhood home. The ceremony included a temporary exhibit of art, books, and artifacts, including original chalk drawings he created for the historical society in 1982.

 

In November, 31 of Haring’s subway drawings sold at a Sotheby’s auction for a collective $9.2 million, exceeding the auction house’s $6.9 million pre-sale estimate.

 

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Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Robert Longo and Keith Haring available at VFA.

 

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January 15, 2025