Robert Longo (b. 1953)

Robert Longo, who studied with Joseph Piccillo while getting his undergraduate degree at Buffalo State College, became one of the best-known proponents of appropriation art. A conversation with the artist revealed that the sections of his multi-media study for Remember the Government, Vote may be read thusly: At the top the Brandenburg Gate in stands for authoritative, political power. The eyes in the center were taken from the Statue of Liberty, except they are closed, signifying that the government has ignored, or literally closed its eyes, to the needs of the masses. A crowded scene of anonymous office workers huddled at their desks, their existence barely acknowledged, represents the people. The implied moral of this allegory is to take control of the government by voting and voicing one’s opinion. —Nancy Weekly