Orly spent her early years on a farm in Namibia. The arid desert landscape, wide open spaces, silence and isolation nurtured imaginative thought and contemplation. After teaching for many years in England and South Africa and having founded her own Art School for children and adults, her focus shifted to painting. The light, colours, textures and rhythms of the South African landscape and the forces of nature infiltrate the paintings. Merging the conscious with the unconscious she continuously explores unknown territory, finding connections between things seen and unseen, between the personal and the communal.

Orly Rabinowitz graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art with a BA (Art) and HDE (Post Graduate in Secondary Education) at UCT in 1979.

‘For me painting is a physical, emotional and cerebral experience, inspired by nature, the human condition and the materiality of paint itself. I work from memory slowly building up a surface with colour, line, brushstroke and texture, to reflect a transformative and dynamic process. I strive to employ a balance between spontaneity and restraint. There is always interplay between the internal and external landscape and the shifting visual relationships. My paintings, much like their subject matter, continue to evolve with the changing light and the viewers own perception.’

Her latest exhibition, ‘A Quiet Place’ is a contemplative series of paintings that examines the artist’s belief that pain and beauty are linked. Atmosphere, light and reflection juxtapose the technical conflicts that arise during the process of painting. Evolving from these tensions, it has given the artist the opportunity to find that quiet place where intuition has replaced intention.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020
‘A Quiet Place’, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa

2013
‘Meditations’, Culture (urban+ contemporary) Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024
Investec Cape Town Art Fair, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2021
FNB Art Joburg (online), EBONY/CURATED, South Africa
‘In [the] Loop', EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2018
‘Frontiers I-VI’ series, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa
‘Autumn Exhibition’, Die Kunskamer, Cape Town, South Africa

2017
‘Colour Chart’, EBONY/CURATED, Franschhoek, South Africa

2016
‘Christmas Group Exhibition’, Is Art, Franschhoek, South Africa
‘Summer Exhibition’, Die Kunskamer, Cape Town, South Africa
‘The Space Between’, South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
‘Summer Exhibition’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2014
‘The Secret Love Project’, Culture (urban + contemporary) Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2013
‘Emunah’ Art Auction, President Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
'First Thursdays at Ebony’, EBONY/CURATED, Cape Town, South Africa

2011
‘The Seven Ages of Man’, Marcus Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa