ROBERT LONGO – Glenn Branca, The Ascension SIGNED VINYL

Longo – Dynamics. The Ascension. Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue. New York, Superior Viaduct 25. Nov. 2014. Cover image by Robert Longo. (SV056).

Cover signed by Robert Longo. –
Glenn Branca (October 6, 1948, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA – d. May
13th, 2018) was an American composer who studied performing arts at
Emerson College in Boston. After graduation, he formed two bands –
Theoretical Girls in 1977 with Jeffrey Lohn, and later, The Static. In
the eighties, his compositions for the Glenn Branca Ensemble included
the several symphonies for which he was best known. Branca’s
compositions centered around multiple guitars – four or more, heavily
amplified – augmented by a rock-based rhythm section of drums and bass.
In later works, the composer began adding other instruments, including
mallet guitar, keyboards, and occasionally a second drummer. Branca’s
minimalist compositions frequently required unusual guitar tunings. –
“Robert Longo (*1953, Brooklyn) is known for his monumental,
hyper-realistic images: powerful, dynamic charcoal drawings that
captivate the viewer with their virtuoso technique and the visual power
of the motif. He chooses photographs as models that capture dramatic
situations at their most tense moments. The artist’s aim is to highlight
power – in nature, politics and history. Longo uses visual material
that has been published thousands of times and has become part of our
popular culture, often our collective memory. He isolates and reduces
the motifs with the aim of potentiating the pictorial effect. Thanks to
the enlargement on the one hand and the lighting control, which
considerably intensifies the light-dark contrasts, on the other, we are
confronted with huge, never-before-seen theatrical images” (Albertina,
Vienna). – „Robert Longo (*1953, Brooklyn) ist für seine monumentalen
hyperrealistischen Bilder bekannt: kraftvolle, dynamische
Kohlezeichnungen, die einen durch die virtuose Technik und die
Bildmächtigkeit des Motivs in ihren Bann ziehen. Als Vorlagen wählt er
Fotografien, die dramatische Situationen im größten Spannungsmoment
festhalten. Dabei geht es dem Künstler um das Aufzeigen von Macht – in
Natur, Politik und Geschichte. Longo verwendet tausendfach publiziertes
Bildmaterial, das Teil unserer Populärkultur, oft unseres kollektiven
Gedächtnisses geworden ist. Er isoliert und reduziert die Motive mit dem
Ziel der Potenzierung der Bildwirkung. Dank der Vergrößerung einerseits
und der die Hell-Dunkel-Gegensätze erheblich zuspitzenden Lichtregie
andererseits stehen wir vor riesigen, nie zuvor gesehenen theatralischen
Bildern“ (Albertina, Wien).