Robin Rhode was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1976. He currently lives and works in Berlin since 2002. Rhode studied at the University of Johannesburg as well as at the Association of Film and Dramatic Arts (AFDA), from 1996 to 2001.

The Berlin-based multidisciplinary artist engages in a variety of visual languages such as photography, performance, drawing, painting, and sculpture to create arrestingly beautiful narratives that are brought to life using quotidian 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. The growing influence of music, film, and popular sports on youth culture as well as the community’s reliance on storytelling in the form of colourful murals encouraged the development of Rhode’s hybrid street-based aesthetic.

His strategic interventions transform urban landscapes into imaginary worlds, compressing space and time, 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. Melding individual expressionism with broader socio-economic concerns, Rhode’s work reveals a mastery of illusion, a rich range of historical and contemporary references, and an innate skill for blending high and low art forms.

Rhode is currently presenting a large-scale wall painting commission titled 'Der Botanischer Garten' in association with the Das Minsk Museum in Potsdam, Germany, and the Hasso Plattner Foundation. Rhode is also included in the group exhibition titled 'Corps et âmes' at the Bourse de Commerce, Pinault Foundation, Paris, France. Rhode has had major solo and group exhibitions at a number of important museums around the world such as Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Modern Art, NY, USA, Museum Voorlinden, Netherlands, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart Berlin, Germany, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, Hayward Gallery, London, UK, The Drawing Center, New York. Furthermore, Rhode has participated at 51st International Venice Biennale, Italy, Biennale of Sydney, Australia, The New Orleans Biennial, USA, Moscow Biennale, Russia, Yokohama Triennale, Japan, Taipei Biennale, Taiwan, Busan Biennale, South Korea. Rhode's work in public collections: Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy, Galleria Civica D'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, Italy, Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin/Düsseldorf, Germany, Sammlung Goetz, Munich, Germany, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA, The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, USA, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada, Pérez Art Museum Miami, USA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway, National Museum of Art Oslo, Norway.