Decay turned into canvas

'It serves as a means for me to come back and inject a kind of energy and life.’

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When artist Robin Rhode needed a canvas for his latest work, he found it at an abandoned sports ground in his dysfunctional hometown of Johannesburg.

Beneath the waist-high grass, broken bottles and occasional bullet casing, he uncovered a decades-old miniature golf course, indoor soccer fields and a tennis training wall. And that's where he started drawing.

The 48 year old grew up not far from the sports ground but 20 years ago moved to Berlin as his career took off internationally.

He paints on walls, sets fire to pianos and draws everyday objects like keys and light bulbs in chalk and charcoal.

"My work is deeply rooted in Johannesburg and I think one of the reasons is that the city functions as a kind of rough, decayed canvas in many ways, that's almost calling for a new narrative to be drawn or painted" onto it, he said.

Often Rhode works in outdoor spaces where much of his work will wash away - the images preserved in often playful photographs, where he or his collaborators pose with the drawings.