Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Ephemeral: Robin Rhode’s outdoors, large-scale works, such as Portrait with Keys, Nine Holes and Garden Service, are often brought to life by performance.
Our meeting place is what seems to be an abandoned park, a space thick with the echoes of its past visitors. The energy here is palpable, as if the park is imbued with the spirits of those who once roamed its paths. He recounts his experiences in Afghanistan and Israel, sharing poignant stories about how those places have shaped him.
His works are massive, combining bold and subtle elements, and he often interacts with his art, bringing it to life through performances. “My work is investing in drawings, the mechanisation of drawing, the organic mark-making of drawing —the potential of drawing is what I am playing with. Coming here made me realise that I could use this surface as my canvas and these grounds as my paper,” he says.
“We are too infatuated with ownership, too infatuated with the object. We project these objects with value. “I am willing to create and then let it go. If it is that amazing, it will stay. If not, it will get washed away.”Rhode’s perspective is both refreshing and profound. His willingness to let go, to allow his art to exist temporarily and then disappear, reflects a peaceful way of living.
“The material that he finds is dead but, through the artist’s artistic spirit, he or she moulds the material and projects a life and spirit into the material so it is reactivated. As we continue to explore the park, Rhode points out more of his works scattered across the grounds. His art transforms the abandoned park into a living, breathing gallery, where each step reveals a new surprise.