Good condition.
Signed and dated on the lower right, numbered on the lower left. Annotated II on the lower center edge.
The verso of the artwork is not examined out of the frame.

Publisher: Seibu Department Stores Ltd., Tokyo.

As a leading artist of the ‘Pictures Generation’ in the 1980s, Robert Longo (1953-) continues to critically explore contemporary image culture. He deconstructs images from the media and reconstructs them, incorporating art historical archetypes and compositions, to create ‘perfect images’. His meticulous charcoal drawings go beyond mere imitation and have the presence of social symbols and emotions that seem to ‘possess’ them.

The artist rose to prominence with his iconic series Men in the Cities, which captures the dramatic movements of businessmen and women twisting or falling. These large-scale monochromatic drawings, created with pencil and charcoal, are the result of a unique process. Longo provokes his models by using music or throwing objects to elicit spontaneous movements, which he photographs and then reconstructs into his drawings. This method imbues the works with a striking vitality and emotional resonance. Men in the Cities symbolises the pressures of corporate life, the obsessive pursuit of success, and the fragility underlying these aspirations. The figures in the series not only reflect the anxieties and tensions of modern society but also resonate deeply with viewers’ own memories and emotions. As "possessed images," they vividly expose the contradictions and struggles of contemporary life.