21st Century Expressionist
To introduce the next-generation 2009 Z4 Roadster, BMW searched for a new way to communicate the sheer joy of experiencing its endless power, sporty agility and open-sky freedom. The answer: transform joyful emotion into art. And the perfect translator was up-andcoming artist Robin Rhode.
Rhode, 32, creates a unique type of street art, using chalk and everyday materials – including himself. Sometimes humorous, sometimes political, his work is always intelligent and thought-provoking.
The delight in viewing much of Rhode’s art, whether captured in an animated video or in a series of photographs, is watching him create a two-dimensional object on the wall or on the ground, and then interact with it to create a three-dimensional work of art.
In “Untitled, Yo-Yo,” the namesake toy is painted in various stages of time-lapse action on a wall; at each stage, he adds himself “playing” with it, creating a dynamic visual. In a similar vein, Rhode will draw a bicycle on the ground and photograph himself trying to push it; in “The Score,” he’ll paint not just the images of jazz instruments, but add sound to make the impression of his playing them all the more realistic.
By the end, the impression takes on a life of its own. Viewing his various works, you begin to feel he is, indeed, flicking a yo-yo, changing a tire, waving a flag of bricks, even shooting pool while standing on the ceiling. Rhode found his creative voice growing up on the tough streets of Johannesburg. Being a mixed-race child growing up in South Africa’s apartheid era left its mark in the escapist and political nature of his work.
His artistic awakening occurred in grade school. There, as a form of ritual hazing, he and other boys would use a piece of stolen chalk to draw an object that was a meaningful symbol to poor schoolboys. A victim would be forced to confront his shame by “blowing out” a drawing of a candle, which symbolized the lack of electricity in his home; or acknowledge his poverty by “peda ling” a chalk-drawn bicycle – an unattainable desire for many.
Bicycles subsequently became a recurring theme in Rhode’s work. Up to this time, this was the only art form Rhode had ever known – but, even then, he became absolutely determined to be trained as an artist. Rhode was accepted into the all-white Witwatersrand Technikon, whose students were raised learning European art history.
After two years of what he called “hell,” struggling to establish his own identity as an artist, he finally based it on his own life experience. After receiving a National Diploma in Fine Art, he went on to become a member of the South African School of Film, Television and Dramatic Arts. Performing his unique two- and three-dimensional pieces first on the street, he was soon invited to museums and art galleries.
Over the years, working solo and collaborating with celebrated artists, his performance videos and photographs have been shown in the most prestigious venues worldwide, as well as online on youtube.com. The former tough kid from the mean streets of South Africa now makes his home in Berlin, Germany.
When asked what he thinks of this vibrant, artistic community, he answers, “it’s super, fantastic, dynamic! It has a very creative atmosphere, and there are so many historical perspectives: early expressionism, avant-garde art, even abstract cinema.
Particularly Kandinsky and the rest of the Blauer Reiter movement from the early 20th century speak to me.” And his life there? “I fell in love with a beautiful German woman who is now my fiancée, and I have a six-year-old son. I love working in Berlin.”
Source: BMW Magazine