Lorraine Rastorfer explores the nature of painting, the contradictions inherent in the painted surface and the role of serendipity in the creation of her works. The vagaries of transience and chance have occupied her for a number of years and she uses painterly gesture combined with moments of happenstance to create works that appear to capture a single moment in time.

Along with the careful layering of paint and pigment, Rastorfer embraces unintentional occurrences that arise from intrinsic variables in her materials. In Tanzen, spontaneous variances in width, tone and form lend the swirls a sense of organic growth as well as emphasising surface movement and energy. Ribbons of red and gold seem caught mid-dance and this intricate web has a life of its own that the artist has managed to freeze momentarily.

Layers of mark-making create visual depth on a flat surface and the illusion of movement across a fixed plane. Rastorfer uses differing densities and directions of line to establish a distant ‘horizon’ in Turbo; the eye is drawn over waves and folds of paint and subtle use of shadow reinforces the illusion of a non-existent three-dimensionality.

Lorraine Rastorfer’s paintings exhibit an elegant unity of rhythm, form and tone, illustrating the paradox of a continual yet unmoving flux. This complexity allows the works to be seen anew over and again.