Robin Rhode: Tension

The Berlin-based artist, Robin Rhode (* 1976 in Cape Town), engages in a variety of visual languages such as photography, performance, drawing and sculpture to create arrestingly beautiful narratives. Coming of age in a newly post-apartheid South Africa, Rhode was exposed to new forms of creative expression motivated by the spirit of the individual rather than dictated by a political or social agenda. This new publication emphasizes the creative influence of the Italian Art movement Arte Povera during the early sixties and seventies on Rhode’s hybrid street-based aesthetic. The creative dialogue transformed urban landscapes and interior spaces into imaginary worlds, compressing space and time, as two-dimensional renderings become the subject of three-dimensional interactions by a sole protagonist. 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.