Stemming from an interest in the everyday rituals and strange intimacy of city life, Dani McKenzie’s paintings
create an impression of second-hand people watching. Based on her own street photographs — which are
often taken at night — her work offers a romanticised, sometimes nosy, exploration of place and the
strangers inhabiting it. Peering in through the lit-up windows of restaurants, bars, apartments and
shopfronts, we catch glimpses of the lives unfolding inside — private moments happening in public spaces.

From a distance, the paintings appear almost photographic. Up close, McKenzie’s fast and loose brushwork
is more perceptive than precise — details are lost, edges dissolve, and the eye is left to fill in the gaps.
Playing deliberately with scale, the smaller paintings invite you to lean in close, while others loom large
enough to swallow you whole.

In the end, the viewer becomes both onlooker and unwitting accomplice. It’s a slightly nefarious kind of
observation. But then again — who doesn’t like to people watch?