Robin Rhode engages photography, performance, drawing, and sculpture in creating visual narratives that are brought to life using quotidian materials such as soap, charcoal, chalk, and paint.
Rhode came of age in the newly post-apartheid South Africa and was exposed to new forms of creative expression motivated by the spirit of the individual rather than dictated by a political or social agenda. The growing influence of hip hop, film, and popular sports on youth culture as well as the community’s reliance on storytelling in the form of colorful murals encouraged the development of Rhode’s hybrid street-based aesthetic.
Rhode is best known for his photographic series that document a sole protagonist interacting with murals the artist painted on public walls in Johannesburg and Berlin. In the succession of photographs, the movements of the actor appear to alter the two-dimensional renderings, compressing space and time and transforming the urban landscape into a fictional storyboard. Melding individual expressionism with broader socioeconomic concerns, Rhode’s work reveals a mastery of illusion, a rich range of historical and contemporary references, and an innate skill for blending high and low art forms.
Using the street corner as his studio, Principle of Hope is photographed against a ruined wall in a township in Johannesburg. Here, the glimmer of an answer resides in geometry – the necessary illusion of perfectibility. A spiral wall is rendered in painted grey tones to create the visual impression of heavy stacked concrete bricks. The painted concrete spiral evolves upwards towards a blue sky, a metaphor for an imaginary utopia. Moving between abstract speculation and visceral record, the artwork takes as a point of reference the philosopher Ernst Bloch’s book published in three volumes in the 1950s titled The Principle of Hope in which the author explores utopian impulses present in art, literature, religion and other forms of cultural expression, and envisages a future state of absolute perfection.
Find original Robin Rhode art on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Lehmann Maupin)
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"Wall of Water" by Robin Rhode (Photograph, Performance, Graphic, Graffiti)
By Robin Rhode
Located in New York, NY
One chromogenic print, 2015, from the edition of 27, signed on a label that accompanies the print, sheet: 770 by 770 mm, 30 1/4 by 30 1/4 inches. Published by Lincoln Center for the ...
C Print
$250
H 18.51 in W 15.75 in D 1.38 in
Bunker Filing Cabinet, Ho Chi Minh City - Vintage Interior Photograph
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Bunker Filing cabinet, vintage interior photograph from Richard Heeps' Vietnam series, This is not America. This artwork is a limited edition of 25, gloss photographic print, dry-mo...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
Skating at Rockefeller Center, New York City art photography
By Alejandro Cerutti
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Art photography of New York City by award winning photographer Alejandro Cerutti. International Photography Awards (IPA) (US), 2010, - Ho...
C Print
$1,200
H 11.82 in W 35.44 in D 0.04 in
Fabien (The Last Picture Show) Polaroid, Contemporary, Color
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Fabien (The Last Picture Show) triptych - 2005, 30x30cm each, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. 3 Archival C-Prints, based on the three original Polaroids. Certificate and sign...
Metal
Ave Maria
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Ave Maria 20x20cm, Edition of 10 plus 2 Artist Proofs. Archival C-Print, based on the Polaroid. Signature Label and Certificate. Not Mounted.
Photographic Film, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color
$14,500
H 60 in W 48 in
The Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, Russia
By Massimo Listri
Located in New York City, NY
Chromogenic Print – Unframed Free Shipping – Ask us for custom framing options. 40 x 48 inches - edition of 5 48 x 60 inches - edition of 5 71 x 88.5 inches - edition of 5 "My ph...
Archival Paper, C Print, Digital Pigment
Badwater (Memories of Green)
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Badwater (Memories of Green) - 2003 Edition of 5, 4 pieces 119x121cm installed, 58x56cm each. 4 Analog C-Prints, hand-printed by the artist, based on the 4 Polaroids. Signature ...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid
$975
H 39.38 in W 33.47 in D 1.97 in
Fishing Hut, Southwold - Blue Seaside Architecture Color Photography
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Fishing Hut, Southwold, harbour architecture photograph from Richard Heeps' series, On-Sea. The modest fishing hut becomes a work of art set against a blue sky in the sunshine. This...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
$975
H 33.47 in W 39.38 in D 1.97 in
Motel Desert Shores, Salton Sea, California - Mid-century Architecture photo
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Motel Desert Shores, photograph from Richard Heeps Salton Sea series. This picture has the a vibe of a Southern California American road trip, the colours are so seductive, the palm ...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
$975
H 39.38 in W 33.47 in D 1.97 in
Summit Cable Car (Blue), Llandudno - Minimal Blue Color Photography
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Summit Cable Car (Blue), photograph from Richard Heeps' On-Sea series. The image features a solitary blue cable car suspended mid-air against a vast, cloudless sky. Heeps utilizes a ...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
$1,093
H 19.69 in W 19.69 in D 0.04 in
Everything put Together (Suburbia) - Contemporary, Polaroid, Analog, Portrait
By Stefanie Schneider
Located in Morongo Valley, CA
Everything put Together (Suburbia) - 2004, 50x50cm, Edition of 1/10, digital C-Print based on a Polaroid. Signature label with Certificate, Not mounted. The project "Suburbia" ...
Archival Paper, Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Polaroid
Hotel Chelsea, New York. Room 322
Located in Miami Beach, FL
These extraordinary photographs are part of the the Hotel Chelsea series. The Hotel Chelsea closed its doors for the first time in its iconic history of over one hundred years. Amer...
C Print
Untitled, from the series 'Utatane'
By Rinko Kawauchi
Located in Zurich, CH
Untitled, from the series 'Utatane', 2001 C–type print Sheet 25.4 × 20.4 cm (10 × 8 in.) Edition of 6 Signed by the artist Kawauchi burst on the international scene in 2001 when she...
C Print