Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann’s paintings feature both highly wrought, decorative elements as well as organic, chaotic forms, exposing the inherent paradox of the painting process. Mann begins each piece with stains of colour that are products of chance and accident. These early marks provide the building blocks for complex networks of imagery, coaxing from this organic foundation the development of diverse, decorative forms: braids of hair, details from Beijing opera costuming, lattice-work, sequined patterns. Although founded in adornment, these elements are repeated until they too, appear organic, even cancerous, as they at once highlight and suffocate the underlying ink stained foundation.