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Robin Rhode

Hayward Gallery

London

Oct 7–Dec 7, 2008

Installation view of Who Saw Who at Hayward Gallery

London

Berlin-based South African artist Robin Rhode (born 1976) is a major new talent on the international art scene. He has developed a growing reputation for brilliantly inventive performances, photographs and drawings. Rhode combines large-scale charcoal drawings with charming and sharp-witted performances, often acted out on the street. In his video animations, Rhode tries to interact with two-dimensional representations of everyday objects; he draws a candle and tries to blow it out; he paints a bicycle and tries to ride it. Born and raised in Johannesburg, Rhode’s do-it-yourself art comments on urban poverty, the politics of leisure and the commodification of youth cultures.

Installation view of Who Saw Who at Hayward Gallery
Installation Views
1 of 9:
Sculpture by Robin Rhode

Robin Rhode

Soap and Water, 2007

Installation view of Who Saw Who at Hayward Gallery
Installation Views
1 of 8:
Portrait of Robin Rhode

With his research-based and socially engaged practice, Robin Rhode (b. 1976, Cape Town, South Africa; lives and works in Berlin, Germany) engages the urban landscape to create complex, symbolically rich narratives that disrupt and transform their environments.

The artist is best known for his multi-panel works that deftly combine photography, performance, wall painting, and drawing. Negotiating the urban landscape, these photographs often depict silhouetted figures interacting with carefully composed wall paintings that the artist paints in public spaces, most often in the city of Johannesburg. In each succession of photographs, the choreographed movements of the individual or group appear to alter the two-dimensional renderings, compressing space and time and morphing the urban landscape into a fictional storyboard. Using the medium of photography to capture his painted and performative actions, Rhode disrupts the fixity of the wall, rendering it a mobile substrate that can be transported into a variety of contexts.

Who Saw Who | Lehmann Maupin