Author Description

The Cape Town-born, Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist Robin Rhode (born 1976) engages photography, performance, drawing and sculpture to create arrestingly beautiful narratives that are brought to life using materials such as soap, charcoal, chalk and paint. 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 Hatje Cantz publication emphasizes the influence of Arte Povera on Rhode's aesthetic, whose creative dialogue also formed during his meeting with the gallery Tucci Russo and his early collaborative efforts with photographer Paolo Mussat Sartor, in which he transformed urban landscapes and interior spaces into imaginary worlds, as two-dimensional renderings become the subject of three-dimensional interactions by a sole protagonist (usually played by the artist or by an actor inhabiting the role of artist).