Robert Longo Installation Will Come to Hunter College

Photo

Before he shares a billing with Francisco Goya at the Brooklyn Museum next month, Robert Longo will present a public work above Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

Mr. Longo’s “American Bridge Project,” which consists of vinyl renderings of the original First Amendment document and the American flag, will go on view on the Hunter College sky bridges on Friday and remain until Dec. 1. Mr. Longo, whose art is often politically charged, hopes to provide a daily reminder of the importance of unity and free speech.

To create this site-specific work, which was curated by Jill Brienza, Mr. Longo enlarged portions of two of his charcoal drawings, often visiting 68th Street to examine the possibilities of scope and color.

“It was really difficult to figure out what would work from a distance,” Mr. Longo said in an interview. “It’s like these slivers of images; they slice the sky. And bridges are metaphorically something we need politically more than ever.”

The lower piece, on the third-floor bridge, is based on his 2017 work “Untitled (First Amendment, September 25, 1789),” in which he drew the First Amendment by hand in an effort to convey its very human origins.

“People address the Constitution as if it was the Bible,” Mr. Longo said. “I was quite touched when I actually looked at it and realized it was written by someone with penmanship, by hand.”

The seventh-floor installation is based on Mr. Longo’s 2012 charcoal drawing “Untitled (Berlin Flag).” Another one of Mr. Longo’s depictions of the American flag will go on display in September in at least eight venues around the country, as part of Creative Time’s “Pledges of Allegiance” project.

Continue reading the main story