Weng Contemporary Presents: A Portfolio That Shaped a Generation.

New York City, 1977. The streets pulse with raw energy: punk, disco, Wall Street, Warhol. Somewhere between a party and a protest, artist Robert Longo (b. 1953) sets out to freeze a generation mid-motion. He asks his friends - artists, gallerists, musicians - to dance, fall, collapse, contort in front of a rooftop camera. Dressed in corporate suits, they appear to be struck by an unseen force. The result? One of the most iconic and enduring bodies of work in contemporary art.

This rare portfolio, published in 2005, comprises 20 colour photographs shot between 1977 and 1983.

Created in an edition of just 15, only two complete sets are known to remain intact.
We are honoured to offer one of them.

Men in the Cities (Portfolio of 20)

2005

Partly inspired by a haunting death scene from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s The American Soldier (1970), Longo’s photographs visualize the unseen pressures of city life. The figures are thrown by invisible forces. The tension is physical, emotional, and cinematic. Is it violence? Dance? Ecstasy? Despair? This work resonates now more than ever: a mirror of our own time, when the strain of performance, perfection, and power plays out daily in modern life.

The American Soldier

1970

These aren’t anonymous models, they’re the downtown scene itself: Cindy Sherman, Longo’s then partner and fellow icon of staged photography. Larry Gagosian, soon to become a global art world powerhouse. Gretchen Bender, Eric Bogosian, Glenn Branca - artists, performers, thinkers who defined late-20th century New York. Each figure is caught in a moment of heightened emotion; as if the suits they wear can no longer contain the human inside.

Men in the Cities didn’t stay in the gallery. The images became visual shorthand for urban alienation, high tension, and stark beauty; instantly recognizable and endlessly referenced. They are woven into the fabric of contemporary culture: sharp, stylish, subversive, and hauntingly human.

Christian Bale and Chloë Sevigny in a scene from Mary Harron’s "American Psycho" (2000). On the wall, one of Robert Longo’s drawings from the "Men in the Cities" charcoal series (1980).

Born in Brooklyn in 1953, Robert Longo has emerged as one of the most influential American artists of his generation. More than a visual artist, he is a master of tension and scale, known for his striking use of black charcoal to create images that feel both immediate and timeless. Throughout his career, Longo has explored themes of power, beauty, and the charged nature of imagery. Merging the precision of photography with hyper-realistic drawing, his work carries an unmistakable urgency: always iconic, always resonant.

Men in the Cities is where it all began. The raw photographs. The real people. The original energy. And now, from the extremely limited edition of 15, one of only two existing complete sets is available at Weng Contemporary. This is more than a portfolio: it’s a chapter of art history, a document of downtown New York, a mirror to our modern condition. We’re proud to offer this extraordinary set to collectors who understand not just its rarity - but its power.

Availability is extremely limited. To learn more about the work, contact us directly for details and pricing. Reply to this email or:

For collectors who wish to acquire a single, standalone icon from this seminal series, we are also proud to offer Eric, NYC, 1980 (2009): a compact-format, independent work that powerfully encapsulates the essence of Men in the Cities. While drawn from the same iconic imagery, this piece was created separately from the 2005 portfolio and stands alone as a striking domestic size edition.

Eric, NYC, 1980

2009

Want to dive deeper into the story behind this iconic work?

Let’s talk. We’re happy to walk you through the portfolio, share its history, and answer any questions you may have.

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