I Just Can’t Stop Laughing, I <3 Robin Rhode

Untitled, Dream Houses, 2005

While the movement of street art into the gallery room, and its concomitant appropriation by the art establishment, is intriguing and all that, perhaps even more interesting is art the manages to encompass both worlds at the same time, through the same object (or object set). Like Slinkachu, Robin Rhode’s work brings together all of my favorite art forms. His work combines street art, photography, performance and, above all, humor to address social concerns. What more can you ask for, right?

Robin Rhode is a South African Artist now working out of Berlin. Rhode uses materials like chalk, charcoal and paint to draw a series of graphic images on streets and walls. He photographs a sequence of shots of himself moving in conjunction with transformations in his drawings. As a sequence, the photographs tell a story which is ultimately just an illusion Rhode has created through his drawings. (As, for example, the sequence of images above in which objects — a television set, a stool, a table — fall, one after another from the above and Rhode catches each before it falls on the ground, until ultimately a car falls down and squashes him. I mean, come on, that’s pretty damn funny.)

Promenade, 2008

Although he lives in Berlin, Rhode often travels to South Africa to draw and photograph his images on the streets of Johannesburg. While his pieces are ultimately simple and bold, visually engaging, and lightly humorous, there is an urgency and pain beneath the surface. His stories refer both to the act of art making, and to the poverty and social inequality that characterize his childhood home.

Given the scale of the work (and many of the pieces are actually presented as videos), it’s hard to give anything but the most general impression here. Fortunately, many major collections now include Rhode’s work. So go see it. (Even kids, who obviously cannot appreciate all of the dimensions of the work, love this stuff — it’s just too stinkin’ funny.)

Snake Eyes – Rhode, Robin – Conceptual art – Photo – Other/Unknown theme – TerminArtors.

Stone Flag – Rhode, Robin – Conceptual art – Computer print – Other/Unknown theme – TerminArtors.

 Street Gym – Rhode, Robin – Conceptual art – Other/Unknown technique – Other/Unknown theme – TerminArtors.

 Wheel of Steel – Rhode, Robin – Conceptual art – Photo – Other/Unknown theme – TerminArtors.

 Empty Pockets – Rhode, Robin – Conceptual art – Other/Unknown technique – Other/Unknown theme – TerminArtors.

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