Robin Rhode at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

A man with skin composed of overlapping shells arranges his hands on a wall in Lehmann Maupin Gallery’s front room as if to peer into the vibrantly colored picture before him – a mural depicting a block of flats.  ‘Die Strandloper – Man’ or ‘The Beachwalker – Man,’ an installation by South African artist Robin Rhode, is titled after a term used to refer to one of South Africa’s oldest people groups, the Khoisan, who have lived along southwest Africa’s coasts and whose lifestyles have been under threat for centuries by European settlement and now climate change.  Resembling the streamlined forms of hotels from the game Monopoly, the structures in their non-natural colors are a sharp contrast to the figures’ close physical relationship with the natural world. (On view in Chelsea through Feb 11th).

Robin Rhode, Die Strandloper – Man (The Beachwalker – Man) and Die Strandloper – Boy (The Beachwalker – Boy), both are glass fiber reinforced plastic and shells, ’22 and Block of Flats (Wall Painting), acrylic paint, dimensions variable, ‘23

Robin Rhode at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

In a sequence of six photos by South African artist Robin Rhode, an acrobatic mathematician contorts his body to project a ‘Lute of Pythagoras,’ a series of pentagrams locked together in pleasing mathematical proportion. At the gallery entrance, Rhode quotes Swiss architect and urban planner Le Corbusier’s assertion that humanity attempts to save itself from chaos through geometry. Rhode’s efforts to better humanity by joining art and geometry feel poignantly quixotic. (On view at Lehmann Maupin Gallery in Chelsea through Feb 24th).

Robin Rhode, one of six panels in Meditation on the Lute of Pythagoras, 6 parts, each 21.5 x 28.58 x 1.5 inches, c-print, 2017.

Robin Rhode at Lehmann Maupin Gallery

Known for photo sequences that involve individuals interacting with drawings made on the ground or wall, South Africa artist Robin Rhode branches out into post-performance installation in his latest show at Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery. Bikes have long figured in his work as emblems of what the average kid on the street can’t afford; here, he’s used a cast chalk bike as a drawing tool to create a jittery, moving vehicle. (Through August 21st).

Robin Rhode, Chalk Bike, chalk and steel, 41 x 72.5 x 19 in, 2 windows, each 24.75 x 38.5 x 3 inches, 2015.

Robin Rhode at Lehmann Maupin

Robin Rhodes, Paries Pictus - Color in the Pictures, vinyl and oil crayons in custom box, 2013.
Robin Rhodes, Paries Pictus – Color in the Pictures, vinyl and oil crayons in custom box, 2013.

Kids from PS 63 in the South Bronx discovered that coloring with crayons isn’t as easy as it seems…At least not when the crayons are over two feet long.  Berlin-based South African artist Robin Rhode created wall decals and handed over the crayons, letting the children discover that being an artist can be hard work.  (At Lehmann Maupin’s Lower East Side Gallery through March 16th).