While Robert Longo has worked in a variety of media – including performance, photography, sculpture and painting – he is best known for his large-scale, hyper-realistic charcoal drawings that reflect on the construction of symbols of power and authority. Inspired by Carl Jung's notion of the collective unconscious, he explores the effects of living in an image-saturated culture – how we filter, retain and process the images that bombard us daily. The narrative strength and emotive impact of his works come from the transformation of the intimate practice of drawing into the monumental scale of painting, as well as the meticulous detail he achieves in charcoal.
Longo's works are often drawn from media sources that reflect current affairs and socio-political issues, including war, protest movements, immigration and climate change. In parallel to this, he has created several series that depict 'absolutes' at their moment of fulfilment, such as bombs exploding, waves crashing, sharks breaching or roses blooming. He also engages with art history in works he collectively calls Forensic Distance, reinterpreting paintings by the Abstract Expressionists, Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh, among others. Since 2015, he has embarked on a series of drawings based on conservation X-rays of masterpieces such as Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), seeking the 'truth' of an image beyond its surface appearance.
Drawing on the Old Masters' use of chiaroscuro, Longo harnesses light and dark to achieve a dramatic emotional range in his charcoal drawings. The transposition of medium is crucial, as 'a photograph is recorded in an instant [but] a drawing takes months to make', altering both the artist and viewer's relationship to the image. He adapts his technique to reflect the particularities of the source photograph, capturing the pixelation of a telephoto zoom or the sharp edges of a bullet-hole in glass. For Longo, this forensic examination of an image allows him to internalise it on a molecular level which, 'combined with the medium's inherent intimacy, represents a sincere attempt to slow down the image, to provoke the viewer to consume its full power'.
Longo was born in New York, where he lives and works. After graduating from the State University College in Buffalo, he moved to New York with Cindy Sherman in 1977, becoming studio assistant to Vito Acconci and Dennis Oppenheim. That same year, he participated in the five-person show Pictures. This was followed in 1981 by his first solo exhibition, debuting the Men in the Cities drawings that established his early career. His work was shown at documenta, Kassel in 1982 and 1987, the Whitney Biennial in 1983 and 2004, and the Venice Biennale in 1997. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Palm Springs Art Museum (2021–22); Hall Art Foundation, Derneburg, Germany (2020); Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland (2017); Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, USA (2012); Museu Berardo, Lisbon (2010); and Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice (2009). His works were shown alongside those of Francisco Goya and Sergei Eisenstein in Proof, which travelled from the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2016) to the Brooklyn Museum, New York (2017) and Deichtorhallen Hamburg (2018).
2024
Robert Longo, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, USA
Robert Longo, Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria
2023
Robert Longo Drawings: Engines of State, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA
2022
The New Beyond, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2021
Storm of Hope: Law & Disorder, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA, USA
2020
When Heaven and Hell Change Places, Hall Art Foundation, Schloss Derneburg Museum, Derneburg, Germany
2019
Fugitive Images, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Amerika, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
2018
Everything Falls Apart, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany
Robert Longo: Them and Us, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
2017
Let the Frame of Things Disjoint, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
Sara Hilden Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
The Destroyer Cycle, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo: Picasso Redacted, Cahiers d'Art, Paris, France
2016
Luminous Discontent, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2015
The Invention of Zero (After Malevitch), Hans Mayer Galerie, Düsseldorf, Germany
2014
Gang of Cosmos, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Strike the Sun, Petzel Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2013
Phantom Vessels, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2012
The Capitol Project, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA
Men in the Cities, Galerie In camera, Paris, France
STAND, Capitain Petzel Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2011
God Machines, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Mysterious Heart, Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
2010
Robert Longo, Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm, Germany
Robert Longo: Survey Exhibition 1980-2009, Museu Berardo, Lisbon, Portugal
2009
Robert Longo: 1979-2009, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice, France
Surrendering the Absolutes, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Dancing With Chains On, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
No Wave, SAKS Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
2008
Nights Bright Days, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
Intimate Immensity, Galería Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
2007
Children of Nyx, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Beginning of the world, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
2006
The Outward Visible Signs of an Inward Invisible Grace, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Ouroboros, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
2005
Robert Longo: Fire, Water, Rock 2003-2005, Galleria D’Arte Contemporanea Emilio Mazzoli, Modena, Italy
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA
Robert Longo: Deep Silence, Monchehaus Museum, Goslar, Germany
2004
The Sickness of Reason, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
2003
Robert Longo: Lust of the Eye, Galería Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
2002
Monsters, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo: Sigmund Freud, Jüdisches Museum, Berlin, Germany
The Freud Drawings, Museen Haus Lange und Haus Esters, Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld, Germany
Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria
2001
The Freud Drawings, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
2000
Robert Longo: Superheroes, Lipanjepuntin Artecontemporanea, Trieste, Italy
Robert Longo: 1980-2000, Galleria Emilio Mazzoli, Modena, Italy
1998
Superheroes, Gallery Cotthem, Brussels, Belgium
Cotthem Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
1997
Magellan, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Das Magellan Projekt, Kunsthalle Tubingen, Tübingen, Germany; Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1996
Robert Longo: Kreuze, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany
1995
Robert Longo: A Retrospective, The Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan; Ashikaga City Museum, Ashikaga, Japan; Kirin
Plaza Art Space, Osaka, Japan
Johnny Paintings, Galerie Gana-Beaubourg, Paris, France
Galerie Lüpke Frankfurt, Germany
Johnny Mnemonic: Works on Paper, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
1994
Robert Longo, Genereux Grunwald Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Robert Longo, Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf, Germany
1993
Bodyhammers: The Cult of the Gun, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Robert Longo, Kleines Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Austria
Killing Time, Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona, Spain
Galeria Joan Prats, New York, NY, USA
1992
When Heaven and Hell Change Places, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
Dreams With The Wrong Solutions, Salzburg Grand Opera House, Salzburg, Austria
1991
Robert Longo, Linda Cathcart Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Robert Longo, Texas Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
Robert Longo, Hamburger Kunstverein and Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
Faith in Zero Project, Five Gallery installation: Galerie Daniel Templon, Galerie Antoine Candau, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, A.B. Galleries, Galerie Gordon Pym et Fils, Paris, France
1990
Black Flags, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
1989
Robert Longo 1976-1989, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA, and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Robert Longo, Seibu Contemporary Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Robert Longo, Linda Cathcart Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1988
Robert Longo, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo, Menil Collection, Houston, TX, USA
Robert Longo, Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
1987
Robert Longo, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
1986
Steel Angels Part I, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Steel Angels Part II, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA
Robert Longo, Spiral Gallery, Wacoal Art Center, Tokyo, Japan
Robert Longo: Studies and Prints, Mackenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina, Regina, Canada
Sequences/Men in the Cities, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, CA, USA; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, USA; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
1985
Robert Longo, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Robert Longo, Lia Rumma Gallery, Naples, Italy
Robert Longo: Dis-Illusions, University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa, USA
1984
Robert Longo, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo: Drawings & Reliefs, Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH, USA
Robert Longo, Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1983
Robert Longo, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo, Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo, Galerie Schellmann & Kluser, Munich, Germany
1982
Robert Longo, Texas Gallery, Houston, TX, USA
1981
Men in the Cities, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Robert Longo, Fine Arts Center, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, USA
Robert Longo, Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1980
Robert Longo, Studio Cannaviello, Milan, Italy
1979
Robert Longo, The Kitchen, New York, NY, USA
1976
Robert Longo, Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York, USA
2023
Drawn into the Present: Portraits on Paper, Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
Images, Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg, France
Dans l’air, les machines volantes, Hangar Y, Meudon, France
2022
Broken Music Vol. 2: 70 Years of Records and Sound Works by Artists, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
Le Voyage des arbres, Musée des Franciscaines, Deauville, France
2020
30 Years in Paris, Thaddeaus Ropac, Paris Pantin, France
This Is America | Art USA Today, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands
2019
Picasso et l'exil. Une histoire de l'art espagnol en résistance, les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France
2018
Proof: Francisco Goya, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Longo, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Germany
2017
Proof: Francisco Goya, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Longo, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA
2016
Proof: Francisco Goya, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Longo, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
Just Black and White, Galerie Klüser, Munich, Germany
Elemental Perspectives: Land, Sea + Sky, Adamson Gallery, Washington, DC, USA
Pop Art Classics, Galerie Fluegel-Roncak, Nuremberg, Germany
People, Places, Things, Tracy Williams Ltd, New York, NY, USA
2015
Still Moving, Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY, USA
Space Age, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
Picasso in Contemporary Art, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
The Broad Gift, Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Choice Works, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ, USA
Looking Back / The 9th White Columns Annual – Selected by Cleopatra’s, White Columns, New York, NY, USA
White on the White : Color, Scene, and Space, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
I Like America, Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen, Germany
2013
Disaster - The End of Days, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
2012
Mediated Iconography, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK
2011
View From a Volcano: The Kitchen's Soho Years, 1971-85, The Kitchen, New York, NY, USA
2010
Mixed Use, Manhattan: Photography and Related Practices 1970s to the present, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
The Surreal House, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
Off the Wall: Part 1—Thirty Performative Actions, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Swell: Art 1950-2010, Friedrich Petzel Gallery, Nyehaus and Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Human, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain, Nice, France
Big is Better (or so some claim), Wright Exhibition Space, Seattle, Washington, WA, USA
Disquieted, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, USA
Cars: Warhol, Fleury, Longo, Szarek—Works from the Daimler Collection, The Albertina, Vienna, Austria
Supernature: an Exercise in Loads, AMP Gallery, Athens, Greece
New Visions: Contemporary Masterworks from the Bank of America Collection, The Mint Museum Uptown, Charlotte, NC, USA
2009
Terror and the Sublime: Art in the Age of Anxiety, The Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
Just What Is It: 100 Years of Modern Art From Private Collections in Baden-Württemberg, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany
Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Beg Borrow and Steal, The Rubell Family Collection Museum, Miami, FL, USA
Drawing Sculpture, The Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart, Germany
The Pictures Generation: 1974-1984,The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Three: The Triptych in Modern Art, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Is It Tomorrow Yet? Highlights from the Daimler Art Collection, The Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Singapore
2008
Accessories to an Artwork, Paul Stolper, London, UK
Interieur/Exterieur: Living in Art, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix, Museion Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bolzano, Italy
Political Corect, BFAS Blondeau Fine Art Services, Geneva, Switzerland
to: Night, The Hunter College Art Galleries, New York, NY, USA
The Human Image in the Twentieth Century: Works from the Collection of the Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi, Japan
Atomic Afterimage: Cold War Imagery in Contemporary Art, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
The Big Bang, Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome, Italy
That Was Then…This Is Now, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY, USA
Landscope, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Future Tense: Reshaping the Landscape, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, NY, USA
2007
Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida, USA; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montréal, Canada
Exhibitionism: An Exhibition of Exhibitions of Works from the Marieluise Hessel Collection, Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA
Chelsea to Caochangdi, Chambers Fine Art, Bejing, China
History Will Repeat Itself, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund, Germany; Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Panic Attack! Art in the Punk Years, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
Lights, Camera, Action: Artist Films for the Cinema, Kaufman Astoria Studios, New York, NY, USA
Hot Rock, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, UK
2006
Fifth Interpretation of the Collection, La Colección Jumex, Pachuca, Mexico
New York New York: Fifty Years of Art, Architecture, Cinema, Performance, Photography and Video, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, France
Les Mouvement des Images, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Ma+h Coun+s, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
The Downtown Art Show: The New York Art Scene 1974-1984, Grey Art Gallery, Fales Library, New York University, New York, NY, USA
2005
Neo-Baroque, Byblos Art Gallery, Verona, Italy
Atomica : Making the Visible Invisible, Lombard-Freid Fine Arts, New York, NY, USA
Flashback: Revisiting the Art of the Eighties, Kunstmuseum Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Switzerland
Drawing from the Modern, MoMA, New York, NY, USA
2004
Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
American Art of the 1980s: selections from the Broad Collections, Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis, MO, USA
Freud – The Creative Analysis of Analysis, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
NY Collects Buffalo State, Buffalo State College, New York, NY, USA
News From Home (Orientalism <> Occidentalism), The Annex, New York, NY, USA
Perspectives at 25, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA
Off the Wall, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Greenwich, CT, USA
2003
Drawings, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Art, Lies, and Videotape: Exposing Performance, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
2002
Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
The Human Factor: Figuration American Art, 1950-1995, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Super Heroes, Galerie Edward Mitterand, Geneva, Switzerland
Melodrama, Atrium, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Centro José Guerrero, Granada, Spain; MARCO, Vigo, Spain
2001
Postmodern Americans, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, USA
I Need You to Be There, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, NY, USA
Pictures’ at an Exhibition, Artists Space, New York, NY, USA
Streit-Lust– For Argument’s Sake, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany
2000
End Papers, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, NY, USA
Around 1984, A Look At the Eighties, P.S. 1, New York, NY, USA
Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
1999
The Kiasma Collection, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
1998
I love Art, In Kahn, New York, NY, USA
The Edward R. Broida Collection: a Selection of Works, The Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, USA
Stills: A Selection from the Marieluise Hessel Collection, Center For Curatorial Studies, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, NY, USA
1997
Landscape: The Pastoral to the Urban, Center for Curatorial Studies: Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, NY, USA
La Biennale di Venezia: XLVII Esposizioione Internationale d'Arte, Venice, Italy
Views From Abroad: European Perspectives on American Art 3, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Stills: Art and Cinama in the Marieluise Hessel Collection, Centro Cultural Light, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1996
Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
New York 'Unplugged II', Gallery Cotthem, Knokke-Zoute, Belgium
Bang! The Gun as Image, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL, USA
1995
Essence and Persuasion: The Power of Black and White, Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, New York, NY, USA
Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
It's Only Rock and Roll, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Passions Privee, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Alternatives: 20 Years of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center: 1975-1995, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York, NY, USA
(Op) Art Galerie, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf, Germany
1994
New York on Paper, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Drawings: Reaffirming the Media, University of Missouri, Kansas City Gallery of Art, Kansas City, MO, USA
Le Temps d'un Dessin, Galerie de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Lorient, Lorient, France
Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; The Art Gallery of Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Art in Embassies Program, American Embassy Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
New York 'Unplugged', Gallery Cotthem, Zeedijk, Netherlands
Summer Academy I, Pace Wildenstein Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Fuori USO 1994, Kulturna Manifestacija, traveled to Ex Opificio Gaslini, Pescara, Italy; Trevi Flash Art Museum of Contemporary Art, Trevi, Italy; Cankarjev Dom, Ljublkana, Slovenija
For 25 Years: Brooke Alexander Editions, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Oh Boy, It's a Girl: Feminismen in der Kunst, Kunstverein Munich, Munich, Germany
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, NC, USA
After Art: Rethinking 150 Years of Photography, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Sustainable Earth/Sustainable Art, Remba Gallery, West Hollywood, CA, USA
1993
Lucio Silla Group Exhibit, Kleines Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Austria
Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
American Postmodern Art (Longo, Schnabel, Salle, Fischl), Ho-Am Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
The 21st Century, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
8 American Artists, Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich, Germany
1992
Allegories of Modernism: Contemporary Drawing, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
American Art of the 80's, Museo d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento, Trento, Italy
Killing Time, collaborative installation with Jon Kessler, Centre de Recherche d'Exchange et de Diffusion pour l'Art Contemporain (CREDAC), Ivry-Sur-Seine, France
1991
Compassion and Protest: Recent Social and Political Art from the Eli Broad Family Foundation Collection, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA
Power, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN, USA
1990
Affinities and Intuitions: The Gerald S. Elliot Collection of Contemporary Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
1989
A Forest of Signs: Art in the Crisis of Representation, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Fondation Daniel templon: Musee Temporaire Exposition Inaugurale, Frejus, France
Image World: Art and Media Culture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
1988
Altered States, Kent Fine Arts, New York, NY, USA
Concept et Imaginatione, L'Institut Néerlandais, Paris, France
Visions/Revisions: Contemporary Representation, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1988 The World of Art Today, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, USA
The Postmodern Explained to Children, Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands
American Art Since 1945, Tochigi Prefectual Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan
Three Decades: The Oliver Hoffman Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
1987
Documenta 8, Kassel, Germany
L'Epoque, La Mode, La Morale, La Passion, 1977-1987, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Avant-Garde in the Eighties, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Implosion: A Postmodern Perspective, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Process and Product: The Making of Eight Contemporary Masterworks, Blum Art Institute, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, NY, USA
Post-Abstract Abstraction, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, USA
1986
An American Renaissance in Art: Painting and Sculpture Since 1940, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
The American Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Das Automobil in der Kunst 1886-1986, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Hommage a Beuys, Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany
Monumental Drawing: Works by 22 Contemporary Americans, Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY, USA
1985
Figure It Out: Exploring the Figure in Contemporary Art, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX, USA
New York 85, ARCA Centre d'Art Contemporain, Marseille, France
Body and Soul: Aspects of Recent Figurative Sculpture, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Anniottanta, Galleria Comunale d'Arte Modera Bologna, Italy
Carnegie International, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
New York Art Now: Correspondences, Laforet Museum, Tokyo; Museum of Fine Arts, Tochigi; Tazaki Hall Espace Media, Kobe, Japan
1984
Endgame: Robert Morris, Laurie Anderson, Robert Longo, Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The Fifth Biennale of Sydney, Private Symbol: Social Metaphor, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Alibis, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France
Automobile and Culture, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI, USA
The Human Condition: Biennial III, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
The Heroic Figure, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX; Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, TN; Alexandria Museum, Alexandria, KY; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Currents, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, USA
Content: A Contemporary Focus, 1974-1984, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C., USA
La Narrativa Internacional de Hoy, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City; (1985) P.S. 1, New York, NY, USA
Disarming Images, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, CA; Museum of Art, Washington State University, Pullman, WA; New York State Museum, Albany, NY; University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute Museum of Art, Utica, NY; Fine Arts Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV; Baxter Art Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA; Yellowstone Art Center, Billings, MT; Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, NY, USA
Szene New York '84, Rheinhallen, Koln Messe, Cologne, Germany
1983
Drawing Conclusions, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles and San Francisco, CA, USA
Directions 1983, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C., USA
1983 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
The New Art, Tate Gallery, London, UK
Brave New Works: Recent American Painting and Drawing, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
Back to the U.S.A., Kunstmuseum Lucerne; Rheinishes Landesmuseum Bonn, Bonn; Wurttembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Dahn, Daniels, Genzken, Holzer, Longo, Visch, Stedelijk van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Drawings Photographs, Leo Castelli, New York, NY, USA
The Heroic Figure: Thirteen Artists from the United States, Museum de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; Museo do Arte Contemporaneo, Caracas, Venezuela
An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
1982
Dynamix, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; University Art Museum, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KT, USA
The Human Figure in Contemporary Art, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA, USA
Eight Artists: The Anxious Edge, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Focus on the Figure: Twenty Years, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Documenta 7, Kassel, Germany
A Fatal Attration: Art and the Media, The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Drawings, Blum Helman Gallery, New York, NY, USA
New Figuration in America, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA
The American Expressionist Image from Pollock to Today, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY, USA
The Image Scavengers, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Body Language, Committee for the Visual Arts, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
Urban Kisses, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK
1981
Il Gergo Inquieto, Museo Sant'Agostino, Genoa, Italy
Tableau, Wave Hill, New York, NY, USA
Picturealism-New York, Galerie Chantel Crousel, Paris, France
Westkunst: Today Section, Museen der Stadt Koln, Cologne, Germany
Drawings, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Body Language: Figurative Aspects of Recent Art, Hayden Gallery, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX, USA; University of South Florida Art Gallery, Tampa, FL, USA; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Figures: Forms and Expressions, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, NY, USA
1980
Extensions: Jennifer Bartlett, Lynda Benglis, Robert Longo, Judy Pfaff, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA
Illustration & Allegory, Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Opening Group Exhibition, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
1979
Re: Figuration, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1977
In Western New York, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, NY, USA
Pictures, Artists Space, New York, NY; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH; Fine Arts Museum, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO; Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
1976
Convergence and Dispersal, S.E.M. Festival, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, USA
Hallwalls Group Show, Artists Space, New York, NY, USA
1975
Working on Paper, opening exhibition, Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY, USA
Australia
Power Gallery of Contemporary Art, University of Sydney, Sydney
Austria
Albertina, Vienna
Canada
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
Musee d'Art Contemporain, Montreal
France
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Germany
Jüdisches Museum, Berlin
Ludwig-Forum fur Internationale Kunst, Aachen
Netherlands
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
UK
Saatchi Collection, London
Tate, London
USA
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Eli Broad Family Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
High Museum, Atlanta, GA
The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Lannan Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Menil Collection, Houston, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Rubell Museum, Miami, FL
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
2005
The Goslar Kaiser Ring