Robin Rhode

- Selected Works

- Biography

(B. Cape Town 1976 )

Robin Rhode was born in 1976 in Cape Town, South Africa. He currently lives and works in Berlin.
In 1998 he obtained a degree of Fine Arts at the Witwaterstrand Technikon in Johannesburg, followed by a postgraduate degree in 2000 at the South African School of Film, Television and Dramatic Art in Johannesburg.

Robin Rhode, from the very beginning of his career, works mainly with easy accessible materials such as charcoal, chalk and paint that allow him to create performances during which he interacts with the objects he draws in public spaces and on different media, such as walls, playgrounds or roads.
Starting from the performance he creates photo slideshows and digital animations that permit to perpetuate the work of an ephemeral nature. He transforms two-dimensional forms (figurative or abstract) in elements of storytelling, imagined presences with which he interacts physically. The viewer is invited to penetrate the imagination of the artist.

Robin Rhode’s work is characterized by a strong multidisciplinary approach and constant reflection on the relationship that the man maintains with the desire, the play and the imagination. The current use of monochrome black and white, as well as allowing a quickly job, permits the artist to reduce its aesthetic to its essence.
Through his artistic production, Robin Rhode likes to suggest a social reflection, sometimes in a provocative way, and does not hesitate to ask the audience to participate actively, as it was the case during his performance Skipping Rope in 2005 at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, on occasion of the exhibition I Still Believe in Miracles / Drawing Space (part I), when he invited the audience to interact with imaginary rope.

- Exhibitions

2018
Robin Rhode. The Geometry of Colour - Lehmann Maupin, New York, NY
2017
Robin Rhode: Under the Sun - Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
Robin Rhode - Paths And Fields - Stevenson, Cape Town
Robin Rhode - Force Of Circumstance - Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris
2016
The Moon is Asleep, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia, USA
Robin Rhode - Primitives - Tucci Russo Contemporary Art Studio, Turin
2015
Arnold Schönberg's Erwartung – A Performance by Robin Rhode, Times Square, New York (opera performance)
Robin Rhode: Robin Rhode, North Carolina Museum of Art, USA
Drawing Waves, Drawing Center, New York
The Sudden Walk, Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, Stockholm, Sweden
2014
Animating the Everyday, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York
2013
The Call of Walls, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
2011
Wall Works, Greenfield Sacks Gallery, California
The State: Work from the Farook Collection, Traffic, Dubai
2010
People Meet in Architecture, 12th International
Venice Architecture Biennale 2010, Venice
Move: Choreographing You, Hayward Gallery, London
The Earth is Flat After All, Perry Rubinstein Gallery, New York
Kupferstichkabinett: Between Thought and Action, White Cube, London
The Dissolve, SITE Santa Fe Eighth International Biennial, New Mexico
Art on Speed, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Kansas
Street and Studio. From Basquiat to Séripop, Kunsthalle Wien, Austria
More of an Activity: an artist as a choreographer, Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan
Robin Rhode, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
In Context, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Visual Arts Center, Richmond, VA; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
CUE: Artists’ Videos, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
Video Art: Replay Part II: Everyday Imaginary, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
2009
Robin Rhode, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Robin Rhode, The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OHIO (solo)
2008
White Cube, London, UK (solo)
Prospect.1 New Orleans, The New Orleans Biennial, curated by Dan Cameron, New Orleans, LA
Street Art, Street Life, Bronx Museum Bronx, New York, NY
Walls in the Street, Siemens Art Program, Belgrade, Serbia
Currents: Recent Acquisitions, Hirshorn Museum, Washington, DC
Art Focus International Contemporary Arts Biennale, curated by Bernard Blistène and Ami Barak, Jerlem, Israel
The Morning After: Videoworks from the Goetz Collection, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany
Geopoliticas de la Animación, MARCO Vigo, Spain
Sensory Overload: Light, Motion, Sound and the Optical in Art Since 1945, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Who Saw Who, Hayward Gallery, London, England (solo)
Galleria Tucci Russo, Turin, Italy (solo)
Stray Alchemists: Robin Rhode, Sterling Ruby, Matt Bryans, Amy Granat and Takeshi Murata, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Biennale of Sydney, International Festival of Contemporary Art curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Sydney, Australia.
Street Level: Mark Bradford, William Cordova, and Robin Rhode, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
For The Love of the Game, Wadsworth, Hartford, CT
Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia
Johannasberg Art Fair, Johannasberg, South Africa
Street Art, Street Life, Bronx Museum Bronx, New York, NY
2007
Selections from the 51st International Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
C’est pas du Jeu!, Centre Photographique d’Ile-de-France, Pontault-Combault, France
Animated Painting, Orange Country Museum, Orange County, CA
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
International Contemporary Art,Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL.
Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul, Turkey
Cape Town Biennial, Cape Town, South Africa
Kunstpreis Böttcherstraße 2007, Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
All About Laughter: Humor in Contemporary Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (performance)
Digitale Tales, CGAC, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Robin Rhode, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (solo)
Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York (solo)
2006
Robin Rhode, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Robin Rhode, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, France (solo)
Taipei Biennial, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan
Version animée, 7e edition, l’animation dans l’art contemorain, Bac (Batiment d’art contemporain), Geneva, Switzerland
Out of Time: A Contemporary View, Museum of Modern Art, New York
STREET: Behind the cliché, Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Ars/Viva 05/06 Identität, Kunst-Werke, Berlin, Germany
Human Games.Winners and Losers, Fondazione Pitti Discovery, Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy
Collection in Context: Gesture, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Empieza el Juego, Zaragoza, Madrid, Spain (solo)
Venice – Istanbul: Selections from the 51st International Venice Biennale, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Istanbul, Turkey
Version Animée: Animation in Contemporary Art. Centre pour l’image contemporaine, Geneva, Switzerland
Out of Time: A Contemporary View, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
ars viva 05/06 – Identität/Identity, KW Institute for Contemporary Arts, Berlin, Germany
Echigo Tsumari Trienniale 2006, Echigo-Tsumari, Japan
Human Game: Winners and Losers, Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy
Empieza el Juego, La Casa Encindida, Madrid, Spain
The Beautiful Game: Contemporary Art and Fútbol, BICA, Brooklyn Institute of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Dak’Art, Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain, Dakar, Senegal
Collection in Context: Gesture, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Contemporary Masterworks: St. Louis Collects, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
mima Offsite: Animated Drawing, Middlesbrough Institute for Contemporary Art, Middlesbrough, UK
Personal Affects: Power & Poetics in Contemporary South African Art, Contemporary Museum Honolulu, HI
biennale cuvée: World Selection of Contemporary Art, O.K. Center for Contemporary Art, Linz, Austria
The Storyteller, carlier | gebauer, Berlin, Germany (solo)
2005
Sculpture in a Non-Objective Way (S.N.O.W.), Tucci Russo Studio per l’Arte Contemporaneo, Torre Pelice, Italy
ars viva 05/06 Identität/Identity, Kunthalle Rostock,
Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft, Berlin, Germany
Art Circus, Yokohama Triennial, Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan (performance)
Irreducible: Contemporary Short Form Video, Miami Art Central, Miami, FL
The Experience of Art, Italian Pavilion, 51st International Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
I Still Believe in Miracles/Drawing Space (part 1) Musée ïArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris/ ARC, Paris, France (performance)
Attention a la marche (histories de getes), La Galerie, The Art Center of Noisy-Le-Sec, Paris, France
Tres Escenarios, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain (performance)
How Latitudes Become Forms, Museum of Modern Art, Monterrey, Mexico
Upon Further Review; Looking at Sports in Contemporary Art, The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery at Hunter College, New York, NY
Hidden Rhythms, Museum Het Valkhof & Nijmegen, Netherlands
New Photography ‘05, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Sounds like Drawing, The Drawing Room, London, UK (performance)
Street Smart, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, USA (solo)
2004
Robin Rhode, Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY (performance) (solo)
BUSTED: New Works by Felipe Dulzaides and Robin Rhode, New Langton Arts, San Francisco (solo)
The Score, Artists Space, New York, NY (performance) (solo)
The Animators, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, USA (solo)
2003
Things You Don’t Know, Galerie K & S, Berlin, Germany
Making Space, Platforum Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey
Coexistence: Contemporary Cultural Production in South Africa, The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Boston, MA
How Latitudes Become Forms, (touring) Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo per L’Art, Turin, Italy; Walker Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN
Intersection, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2002
Survivre a’l’apartheid: Images of Identity, Musée de la Photographie, Yvon Lambert Le Studio, Paris, France
Playtime: Video Art and Identity in South Africa, Museum Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Dislocation, Image and Identity in South Africa, Sala Rekalde, Bilbao, Spain
2001
Shelf Life, Gasworks Gallery, London, UK
FNB Vita Art Prize, NSA Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Tour Guides of the Inner City, Market Theatre
Galleries, Johannesburg, South Africa
Switch On/Off, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa
Light Sculptures, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn, South Africa
Juncture, The Granary, Cape Town, South Africa; Studio Voltaire, London, UK
2000
Pulse: Open Circuit, NSA Gallery, Durban, South Africa
Fresh, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (solo) (performance)
Living in Public, Market Theatre Galleries, Johannesburg, South Africa (solo) (performance)
Fresh, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (performance) (solo)
Living in Public, Market Theatre Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa (performance) (solo)
1999
Babel Tower: Ericsson and MTN Art Institute, Civic Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Softserve, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Visions of the Future: The World’s Largest Canvas, Civic Gallery to Sydney Olympic Games, Johannesburg, South Africa
Personal Concerns, Market Theatre Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Channel: South African Video Art, Association for Video Art (AVA), Cape Town, South Africa
Unplugged IV, Market Theatre Galleries, Johannesburg, South Afric
1998
Human Rights Day Exhibition, Hillbrow Fort, Johannesburg, South Africa
Technikon Witwatersrand Final Year Exhibition, Market Theatre Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa