The South African Jewish Museum is excited to present its latest exhibition, Opacity by local artist Syndi Kahn. The title refers to the levels of transparency depicted in Syndi’s paintings. Her canvasses are richly layered and create a sense of atmospheric drama and immediate visual experience, inviting the viewer to continuously discover new elements and details, in a very life-like, sometimes abstract and then very detailed way. Elements of the paintings move in and out of focus, are blurry and indistinct and then appear in sharp detail. Syndi also plays with scale, creating images that challenge the viewer’s perceptions of reality and heighten the sense of drama. The paintings ask the question of what is real and invite the viewer to look further and then decide for themselves.

Syndi graduated in 1996 from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT with a BA Fine Art (Honours with Distinction). She paints mainly in oils on large format canvases, in a photo realistic style using her own photography. She describes her works as studies in urban landscapes – often incorporating typographic elements and recreating the atmosphere and environments that resonate with her own memories and emotions linked to these public spaces. Syndi has previously exhibited in group shows at the AVA Gallery, Salon 91 and the Rape Crisis Shining Girls exhibition.