WEBVTT 00:00:08.872 --> 00:00:11.000 ♪ ♪ 00:00:34.168 --> 00:00:35.696 Robin Rhode:  Split, split, split. 00:00:35.696 --> 00:00:36.452 Come on, split. 00:00:40.146 --> 00:00:40.646 Split, please. 00:00:45.543 --> 00:00:47.094 Alright guys, strip the van, please. 00:00:49.480 --> 00:00:51.737 I've been working here for about eight  years. 00:00:51.737 --> 00:00:53.963 I think the wall is fantastic in terms of its scale. 00:00:54.450 --> 00:00:59.497 There's an amazing crack in  the surface, which appears in all of my works. 00:01:04.867 --> 00:01:05.930 Drawing team! 00:01:06.084 --> 00:01:07.872 I developed from a three-man crew 00:01:07.872 --> 00:01:09.794 that would do pieces around Johannesburg 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.166 to this location here, which then developed to 00:01:12.166 --> 00:01:14.482 a much larger crew of 10 persons, 00:01:14.482 --> 00:01:16.837 consisting of guys that are from this particular area. 00:01:19.479 --> 00:01:25.833 Over the last year or so, some of my team have vanished. Two are currently in jail. 00:01:26.372 --> 00:01:28.373 Kevin, here, is director of drawing. 00:01:30.450 --> 00:01:34.864 Standby six-pack, Castle Lite.  I want change and receipt. 00:01:36.659 --> 00:01:38.804 Producing a work of art is easy. 00:01:39.835 --> 00:01:43.139 It's surviving day-to-day life that's the difficult part here. 00:01:44.673 --> 00:01:49.310 This is the shoemaker. Shoemaker has been  working with us for almost two years. 00:01:53.657 --> 00:01:54.657 What's happening? 00:01:54.657 --> 00:01:55.490 Shaun:  All right, big man. 00:01:55.926 --> 00:01:57.477 Robin Rhode:  Big man! What's up, bru? 00:01:57.477 --> 00:01:58.670 Shaun:  All right, you bru? You well? 00:01:58.926 --> 00:01:59.918 Robin Rhode: This is Shaun. 00:01:59.918 --> 00:02:01.497 Shaun: You see when Robin gets here. 00:02:01.497 --> 00:02:02.972 Start hooting here, beep, beep, beep, beep. 00:02:02.972 --> 00:02:05.000 and then they all get you. Then they all all get here! 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:06.000 [laughter] 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.459 Robin Rhode: Across the train line is Westbury, this is Newclare. 00:02:10.429 --> 00:02:13.575 This is where I was raised. This is where I grew up. 00:02:15.370 --> 00:02:16.410 This is a colored area. 00:02:16.410 --> 00:02:19.222 We are a community of  mixed-race people. 00:02:19.376 --> 00:02:21.600 We are African, Islamic, 00:02:22.006 --> 00:02:24.263 but we have European ancestry as well. 00:02:24.416 --> 00:02:25.300 - Standby coconut. 00:02:25.737 --> 00:02:28.778 We reinvent various cultures. 00:02:30.368 --> 00:02:31.458 Stand by. 00:02:34.843 --> 00:02:38.333 Stand by, blade. Stand by, Unwrap boxes, please. 00:02:39.846 --> 00:02:42.209 There will be a handover  taking place this afternoon. 00:02:42.541 --> 00:02:43.436 - Snap back. 00:02:43.436 --> 00:02:44.500 To form this camaraderie, 00:02:44.500 --> 00:02:45.709 to form this team, 00:02:46.017 --> 00:02:47.522 We're going military. 00:02:47.676 --> 00:02:48.214 - Try. 00:02:48.214 --> 00:02:49.291 - We're German. 00:02:50.522 --> 00:02:51.921 Robin Rhode:  We're art soldiers. 00:02:52.203 --> 00:02:52.767 - Shoemaker. 00:02:53.639 --> 00:02:55.461 Discipline is a huge factor here. 00:02:55.461 --> 00:02:57.472 - Randy, can you work? 00:02:58.909 --> 00:03:03.184 Everyone's coming with their own personal  issues and when we work, the issues need 00:03:03.184 --> 00:03:05.000 to be left on the pavement. 00:03:05.549 --> 00:03:07.498 Who votes for Randy in? 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:10.678 - I got two hands for you. 00:03:11.012 --> 00:03:11.512 - Welcome aboard. 00:03:11.512 --> 00:03:12.697 Robin Rhode: Welcome aboard, Randy. 00:03:12.697 --> 00:03:14.608 - Welcome, soldier. - Welcome, soldier. 00:03:19.314 --> 00:03:20.545 Robin Rhode:  Thanks, guys. Let's push. 00:03:20.545 --> 00:03:21.718 Let's finish this job. 00:03:23.435 --> 00:03:26.917 My team are paid on a daily rate, but it's beyond 00:03:26.917 --> 00:03:27.872 just cash. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:34.340 It gives him a sense of status,  as somebody that is part of something really 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:35.989 positive and productive. 00:03:36.938 --> 00:03:41.235 Your contribution,  no matter what level it is, has value. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:54.140 So I used to play football here. 00:03:54.140 --> 00:03:58.598 I played under 12s, under 14s and under 16s. 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:02.840 I must say, when I was younger,  the conditions were a lot better. 00:04:04.481 --> 00:04:07.590 There's not much facilities for the youth  to engage with. 00:04:07.590 --> 00:04:11.785 So, there is also other modes of spending their free time, 00:04:11.785 --> 00:04:13.640 and that's a  problem. 00:04:14.461 --> 00:04:16.999 You have a beautiful park in this area, 00:04:16.999 --> 00:04:21.930 but opposite the park is, like one of the  biggest drug gang wars in Johannesburg. 00:04:26.213 --> 00:04:32.184 You know, when I'm not here, this also creates a huge vacuum for the team that I work with. 00:04:33.184 --> 00:04:40.000 I'm not sure how productive they will be if I'm not around, 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:45.250 or do they have an employment of some sort. 00:04:45.712 --> 00:04:48.497 So, um, yeah. It's a major issue. 00:04:50.728 --> 00:04:55.888 It's only a matter of time before I do a piece  on this wall. It's only a matter of time. 00:04:59.325 --> 00:05:05.000 ♪ ♪ [hip-hop music] ♪ ♪ 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:14.330 Strip the van please, unload. ASAP. 00:05:15.231 --> 00:05:16.348 - Standby spirit level. 00:05:16.550 --> 00:05:21.909 As a school kid, we had a form of hazing in the toilets of the school. 00:05:22.396 --> 00:05:23.601 We used to steal 00:05:23.601 --> 00:05:29.418 the chalk in the classrooms, draw objects  onto the toilet walls, and force young kids 00:05:29.418 --> 00:05:32.364 to interact and engage with the drawings, 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:34.421 to ride a bike 00:05:35.667 --> 00:05:37.209 or to blow out a candle. 00:05:38.109 --> 00:05:42.247 I think that kind of planted the seed  for my practice as a young artist. 00:05:44.273 --> 00:05:45.273 ♪ ♪ 00:05:51.556 --> 00:05:55.000 I used to create these performances for  myself and for the camera, where I would 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.718 just draw an object on the wall and interact with it. 00:06:00.591 --> 00:06:03.060 One of the first objects I drew was the bicycle, 00:06:03.932 --> 00:06:07.206 and then it became a television, then it became a chair, 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:09.880 and it just began to extend  itself further and further. 00:06:12.111 --> 00:06:18.620 We use humor as a mode of survival, and  we use play as a means to destabilize 00:06:18.620 --> 00:06:20.499 various dominant structures. 00:06:21.730 --> 00:06:23.710 - Standby! 00:06:23.710 --> 00:06:25.380 - Wall touch up green, here. 00:06:25.380 --> 00:06:28.879 Johannesburg, there is no art education whatsoever. 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:30.297 - Stand by, shot one! 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:32.220 And go! 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:33.370 Oh, beautiful, Kevin! 00:06:33.370 --> 00:06:35.259 So how do we engage with minimalism? 00:06:36.084 --> 00:06:37.418 - Thank you very much. 00:06:37.536 --> 00:06:42.543 Minimalism. I would reference and rework  in a kind of humor-orientated way. 00:06:42.819 --> 00:06:46.590 Feet up higher, higher. Yes! Two shots. 00:06:47.487 --> 00:06:49.785 Standby bike. Standby bike. 00:06:53.350 --> 00:06:57.440 The Institute for Quality. Building South Africa. 00:06:57.440 --> 00:06:59.650 Child by Child. 00:06:59.650 --> 00:07:01.620 So doppelganger is a kind of body double 00:07:01.876 --> 00:07:04.011 to represent me in the works. 00:07:04.396 --> 00:07:05.397 - Arm lower. Yeah. 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:10.530 The doppelganger also acts as a stand-in for  the viewer. He's standing on the bike, lying 00:07:10.530 --> 00:07:13.092 on the bike, never touching the surface of the 00:07:13.092 --> 00:07:16.473 ground, trying to grapple with gravity, in a way. 00:07:17.832 --> 00:07:20.000 I'm trying to escape time. 00:07:20.446 --> 00:07:21.949 Look up. Yeah. Two. 00:07:21.949 --> 00:07:25.430 And this is why I've been  so fascinated with geometry. 00:07:25.430 --> 00:07:26.430 - Painters! 00:07:27.174 --> 00:07:31.107 The simple geometric form allows for kind of transcendence 00:07:31.107 --> 00:07:34.412 over time, over space, over geography 00:07:39.361 --> 00:07:43.715 A lot of preparatory drawings take  place in my studio, in Berlin. 00:07:47.972 --> 00:07:50.549 Berlin just gives me that breathing space to 00:07:50.549 --> 00:07:53.002 internalize what I've created in South Africa. 00:07:57.030 --> 00:08:00.603 I first came to Berlin in 2001. I had a residency. 00:08:01.629 --> 00:08:05.248 I met a beautiful woman, that eventually became my wife. 00:08:06.408 --> 00:08:11.841 We have two sons. My family is what roots me to Berlin. 00:08:13.380 --> 00:08:15.586 I think that being here has given me 00:08:15.586 --> 00:08:19.077 a level of education that I never actually  had in Johannesburg. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:21.020 All those years ago, 00:08:21.020 --> 00:08:26.334 I said that I would school myself by reading magazines, 00:08:26.642 --> 00:08:28.909 going to exhibitions, going to museums. 00:08:29.063 --> 00:08:30.770 [imitates piano] 00:08:31.975 --> 00:08:36.456 Berlin has given me that kind of hands-on  experience in understanding different artistic 00:08:36.456 --> 00:08:40.000 movements, from the Bauhaus to Der Blaue Reiter. 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.493 I'm an artist that really loves art history. 00:08:47.750 --> 00:08:50.389 When I think about the studio, I get really 00:08:52.210 --> 00:08:58.210 emotional because it's luxury. It's  the great space to think. 00:08:59.339 --> 00:09:02.064 But I have an army on the street in Johannesburg, 00:09:02.424 --> 00:09:06.541 and my studio is a beautiful piece of architecture. 00:09:08.541 --> 00:09:12.610 A street corner in Johannesburg offers a lot more danger and risk. 00:09:12.610 --> 00:09:15.160 And the danger and risk becomes a kind of 00:09:15.160 --> 00:09:20.130 subliminal effect on the energy of that work. 00:09:21.976 --> 00:09:24.157 South Africa, there's a lot more vibrant, 00:09:24.157 --> 00:09:25.567 a lot more colorful. 00:09:28.593 --> 00:09:29.593 ♪ ♪ 00:09:35.000 --> 00:09:36.909 Maxime Scheepers: I am good friends with Kevin, 00:09:36.909 --> 00:09:41.216 and Kevin has worked with Robin so many times before. 00:09:41.216 --> 00:09:44.201 And I always just hear the stories of how amazing it is. 00:09:44.201 --> 00:09:45.761 - Yay. Thank you so much. 00:09:46.300 --> 00:09:47.889 And I see the final product. 00:09:47.889 --> 00:09:49.769 - You guys are so cool. 00:09:49.769 --> 00:09:51.600 I've always wanted to work with him. 00:09:52.344 --> 00:09:54.110 Robin Rhode: Just take note that we, you know 00:09:54.110 --> 00:09:56.899 once you put in a few missions, 00:09:56.899 --> 00:10:00.550 you do receive the Amarillo bottle string. 00:10:01.217 --> 00:10:02.350 Maxime Scheepers: For levels. 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:03.980 Robin Rhode: For levels. This is our levels, 00:10:03.980 --> 00:10:05.042 our tour of duty. 00:10:09.808 --> 00:10:13.290 If I combine that performance with what I'm  drawing on the wall, 00:10:13.290 --> 00:10:15.350 that can lead to a visual language. 00:10:16.837 --> 00:10:21.907 Today, the drawing is replaced by a  sculpture of children's jungle gyms 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:25.140 as a set for this particular performance piece. 00:10:25.140 --> 00:10:27.779 Kevin:  Given by you. And we say- 00:10:27.779 --> 00:10:29.410 Maxime Scheepers:  sow the seed 00:10:29.410 --> 00:10:32.710 Kevin: Paint the wall. Be at home 00:10:32.710 --> 00:10:34.810 Together: in our desert for all. 00:10:34.810 --> 00:10:37.421 Robin Rhode:  I was inspired by the poet, 00:10:37.421 --> 00:10:39.591 James Matthews, and Gladys Thomas, 00:10:40.232 --> 00:10:42.732 because the youth that they were referring to was myself, 00:10:43.117 --> 00:10:44.807 being born in the mid-1970s. 00:10:45.781 --> 00:10:48.989 Dedicated to all the children of South Africa 00:10:49.810 --> 00:10:52.875 who will become one family, brothers and sisters. 00:10:53.516 --> 00:10:57.962 It's the first collection of poems that  was banned by the apartheid government. 00:10:58.860 --> 00:11:01.740 It speaks of the white fences in society, 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:04.279 speaks about the city as a jungle, 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:05.640 demarcated areas, 00:11:05.640 --> 00:11:09.081 identity and race, and these ideas are 00:11:09.081 --> 00:11:11.190 playing out right now on the streets of South Africa. 00:11:15.550 --> 00:11:19.091 Kevin: The poetry comes from two colored poets, 00:11:19.091 --> 00:11:21.498 and we're both mixed race. 00:11:22.165 --> 00:11:23.735 Learning them and reciting  them 00:11:23.940 --> 00:11:26.840 is the most beautiful part about this whole process. 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:28.040 It still relates to us now. 00:11:28.040 --> 00:11:31.360 Maxime Scheepers: But it's also harsh, I think, pieces of it. 00:11:32.694 --> 00:11:34.472 It's something we want to play with, you know? 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:41.167 Shh! 00:11:45.245 --> 00:11:48.678 Maxime Scheepers: A beautiful land with beautiful 00:11:48.678 --> 00:11:52.990 mountains and beautiful seas, 00:11:54.554 --> 00:11:56.567 but not for me. 00:11:57.876 --> 00:12:02.255 Come, take my hand,  stop touring and go slumming with me. 00:12:03.307 --> 00:12:05.680 Kevin and Maxine:  Look before your eyes. 00:12:05.680 --> 00:12:08.770 Maxime Scheepers: You see a jungle. 00:12:08.770 --> 00:12:10.610 Kevin: See the white cages. 00:12:10.610 --> 00:12:13.120 Maxime Scheepers:  With thousands of animals running wild. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:17.300 Kevin:  Look into their eyes. Haunted eyes. 00:12:19.044 --> 00:12:20.760 Robin Rhode:  We're working so much focus around the 00:12:20.760 --> 00:12:23.760 aspect of youth, and we refer to the 00:12:23.760 --> 00:12:25.130 youth as the born frees. 00:12:25.130 --> 00:12:26.700 Maxime Scheepers:  We say, sow the seed. 00:12:26.700 --> 00:12:27.740 Kevin:  Paint the wall. 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:31.520 And the born frees don't have the same experiences as my generation have, 00:12:31.520 --> 00:12:33.400 and the generation before me, 00:12:33.400 --> 00:12:35.520 of understanding the mechanisms of apartheid. 00:12:37.648 --> 00:12:39.800 So they are still trying to find themselves 00:12:39.800 --> 00:12:42.867 and find a position for themselves in society. 00:12:44.201 --> 00:12:45.642 Robin Rhode:  What do you guys want to do? 00:12:45.770 --> 00:12:46.770 - Anything. 00:12:46.770 --> 00:12:48.759 Robin Rhode: Anything? You want to paint? 00:12:49.529 --> 00:12:50.980 - Yeah, we can paint. 00:12:51.365 --> 00:12:53.949 When you give young people a sense of worth, 00:12:53.949 --> 00:12:58.144 you can really change your own identity and sense of self. 00:12:59.606 --> 00:13:04.084 And this is something that  I try to communicate to my young crew. 00:13:12.355 --> 00:13:20.000 When I see the works exhibited on a wall of a gallery, of a museum, it's almost muted, 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:21.006 somehow. 00:13:22.683 --> 00:13:27.896 But the energy and excitement of the process  is so intoxicating. 00:13:28.254 --> 00:13:29.242 - Standby photography. 00:13:29.897 --> 00:13:31.506 That's why I always go back to the wall. 00:13:42.560 --> 00:13:46.251 To learn more about Art21 and  our educational resources, 00:13:46.251 --> 00:13:51.340 please visit us online at pbs.org/art21.