‘We Are Art Soldiers’: Watch South African Artist Robin Rhode and His Mural Crew Go to Work on the Streets of Johannesburg

The South African artist Robin
Rhode finds raw canvases for his work in the walls of
neighborhoods around Johannesburg, similar to those he grew up in
as a child in Cape Town. Collaborating with local men from the
community, he has embarked on an extended project to craft murals
that grapple with post-apartheid realities in a mixed-race
neighborhood filled with South Africans who practice Islam,
visualizing positive futures for the drug- and crime-plagued
area.

In an exclusive interview for Art21’s PBS series “Art in the Twenty-First Century” focused on
Johannesburg, Rhode explained that over the course of one
8-year project, the group he works with has changed dramatically.
“I developed from a three-man crew, which then developed to a much
larger crew of ten persons…,” he explains. “Some of my team have
vanished. Two are currently in jail.”

Despite the ebb and flow of his team, Rhode remains persistent
in his mission. “To form this kind of camaraderie, we are going
military. We are art soldiers,” he says. “Discipline is a huge
factor here.” In the video, he muses on how members of his
crew will spend their time when he leaves to return to his studio
in Berlin, which he says “creates a vacuum,” leaving them to their
own devices, often resorting to drugs.

As a child, he drew on concrete walls and blacktops with chalk,
engaging with the works as if they were a backdrop for a film in
which he was the star. Those early experiments led him to a more
mature contemporary practice, but his roots are grounded in that
directness: “a simple geometric form allows for a kind of
transcendence over time, over space, over geography.”

Right now, Rhode’s work is on display at the Kunstmuseum
Wolfsburg in Germany, blending his minimal drawing practice with
more colorful and layered photographs and films inspired by urban
street culture. In the show, called “Memory is the weapon,” he infuses the South
African imagery with themes of European art history, connecting the
disparate elements through universal visual signs.

Watch the video, which originally appeared as part of
Art21’s flagship series, Art in
the Twenty-First Century below.

This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration
between artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking
artists. A new season of the nonprofit Art21’s
flagship Art in the Twenty-First
Century television series is available now on PBS. Catch
all episodes of New York Close
Up and Extended Play and
learn about the organization’s education programs
at Art21.org.

The post ‘We Are Art Soldiers’: Watch South African Artist
Robin Rhode and His Mural Crew Go to Work on the Streets of
Johannesburg appeared first on artnet News.