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
$2,353
H 40 in W 53 in D 0.1 in
Driving Range - Limited Edition OVERSIZE PRINT C-Type Matte Print
By Chris Frazer Smith
Located in Brighton, GB
Driving Range is a dynamic C-Type Matte Print by Contemporary photographer Chris Frazer Smith. This is the OVERSIZE print. It is available in this size of 40" x 53" C-Type Matte P...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Digital
$1,947
H 16 in W 20 in
Cosmos 19 Limited Edition Chromogenic Print, 16x20, Contemporary Art
By Karine Laval
Located in Brighton, GB
Cosmos 19 by Karine Laval is a Limited Edition Chromogenic Print Cosmos 19 is available in this size of 16" x 20" from a Limited Edition of 9 prints Cosmos represents a new chapte...
C Print, Color
$419
H 23.63 in W 27.56 in D 1.97 in
Sunkissed Wendy, Las Vegas - American portrait color photograph
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
On the Road, reimagines classic Richard Heeps artworks presented with full film rebate almost like a blown up contact sheet. 'Sun Kissed Wendy', from Richard Heeps' 'Man's Ruin' Ser...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin
$3,500
H 20 in W 24 in D 2 in
Lawrence Schiller — Barbra Streisand, Royal Pavilion, Brighton, 1969
By Lawrence Schiller
Located in Pembroke Pines, FL
Artist: Lawrence Schiller Title: Barbra Streisand, Royal Pavilion, Brighton, 1969 Year: 1969 Medium: Digital C-Print Edition: 4/75 Signed & numbered in ink by the artist. Size: 17x24 inches. Frame Size: 24x35 inches. Condition: In excellent condition Lawrence Schiller is an award-winning photographer, film director, and bestselling author. As a photographer, Schiller photographed important and notorious figures in American history including Marilyn Monroe, Lee Harvey...
C Print
$1,947
H 16 in W 20 in
Cosmos 20 Limited Edition Chromogenic Print, 16x20 Sunset Landscape
By Karine Laval
Located in Brighton, GB
Cosmos 20 by Karine Laval is a Limited Edition Chromogenic Print Cosmos 20 is available in this size of 16" x 20" from a Limited Edition of 9 prints Cosmos represents a new chapte...
C Print, Color
$803
H 20 in W 24 in D 0.1 in
Park View IV, Hong Kong Architectural Housing Estate in Tai Tam - C-Type Print
By Chris Frazer Smith
Located in Brighton, GB
Park View IV is a dynamic C-Type Matte Print by Contemporary photographer Chris Frazer Smith It is available in this size in an Edition of 25 and is sold unframed A peaceful and ha...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Digital
$641
H 16 in W 20 in D 0.1 in
Hut, White Sands, New Mexico C-Type Print, Limited Edition of 25
By Samuel Hicks
Located in Brighton, GB
Hut, White Sands, New Mexico is a stunning C-Type Print by contemporary British photographer Samuel Hicks. It is available in this size in an Edition of 25, and is sold unframed. ...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Digital
$1,947
H 16 in W 20 in
Cosmos 47 Limited Edition Chromogenic Print, 16x20 Underwater Scene
By Karine Laval
Located in Brighton, GB
Cosmos 47 by Karine Laval is a Limited Edition Chromogenic Print Cosmos 47 is available in this size of 16" x 20" from a Limited Edition of 9 prints Cosmos represents a new chapte...
C Print, Color
$2,353
H 40 in W 53 in D 0.1 in
Hong Kong Apartments II - Limited Edition Oversize C-Type Matte Color Print
By Chris Frazer Smith
Located in Brighton, GB
Hong Kong Apartments II is a dynamic C-Type Matte Print by Contemporary photographer Chris Frazer Smith. This is an oversize print. It is available in this size as a 40" x 53" C-Ty...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Digital
$1,947
H 16 in W 20 in
Cosmos 14 Limited Edition Chromogenic Print, 16x20, Vivid Colors
By Karine Laval
Located in Brighton, GB
Cosmos 14 by Karine Laval is a Limited Edition Chromogenic Print Cosmos 14 is available in this size of 16" x 20" from a Limited Edition of 9 prints Cosmos represents a new chapte...
C Print, Color
$803
H 20 in W 24 in D 0.1 in
Roller Coaster - Limited Edition C-Type Matte Print in Color, Edition of 25
By Chris Frazer Smith
Located in Brighton, GB
Roller Coaster is a dynamic C-Type Matte Print by Contemporary photographer Chris Frazer Smith It is available in this size in an Edition of 25 and is sold unframed An unusually ca...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Digital
$229
H 15.75 in W 15.75 in D 1.38 in
Royal Mansion at Dawn, Bisbee, Arizona - Americana Color Photography
By Richard Heeps
Located in Cambridge, GB
Royal Mansion at Dawn, photograph from Richard Heeps Dream in Color series. Photographed in Arizona this artwork has the classic Americana road trip feel, the pastel colors and the a...
Photographic Paper, C Print, Color, Silver Gelatin