The enormous, photorealistic charcoal drawings of American artist Robert Longo (born 1953) show the beauty and horror of the present day and age.

His large-format works contrast the innocence of sleeping toddlers, the tranquil grandiosity of Earth and the planets, roses in bloom and Gothic cathedrals with threatening images of atom bomb explosions, fighter pilots, monster waves, sharks and the muzzles of revolvers. Inexorably and precisely, Longo records the state of our world; his powerful motifs give form and expression to the feelings of fear and longing felt by people in the 21st century, and affect the viewer with the full force of the medium.

Back in print, this large-format, elaborately designed book–printed on natural paper using a tritone process, bound in half-cloth and distributed in four different cover designs–has been created in close collaboration with the artist and affords a comprehensive overview of his charcoal drawings from the past decade.