Robin Rhode

Robin Rhode (born 1976 in Cape Town, South Africa) is a contemporary artist whose dynamic work spans drawing, painting, photography, and film. Influenced by youth street culture and art history, Rhode transforms urban walls into his canvases, turning static images into dynamic performances. His work is centered around the interaction between two-dimensional drawings—often of bicycles, cars, televisions, and abstract geometric shapes—and a live, performing body, capturing this interplay through photography.

Rhode often uses charcoal, chalk, and paint to create temporary murals on abandoned buildings and walls, inviting young, mixed-race South African collaborators to contribute to these vibrant pieces. This approach, shaped by Rhode’s experience growing up during the last years of apartheid, explores themes of identity, social hierarchy, and access to art. By blending street aesthetics drawn from hip-hop, film, and sports with a broad spectrum of historical and socio-political references, Rhode challenges conventional understandings of art and culture.

Rhode earned his degrees from the South African School of Film, Television, and Dramatic Art in 2000, and the Technikon Witwatersrand in 1998. His work has earned recognition and prestigious awards, such as the Zurich Art Prize (2018) and the A.T. Kearney Young Artist Award (2011). Rhode has held major exhibitions at institutions such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2017), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2010), Museum of Modern Art (2005, 2011), and the Venice Biennale (2005). He currently resides and works in both Berlin and Johannesburg.