"Evening Blaze Line" c. 1990
Synthetic Polymer Paint & Rope on Board
40x50cm
Signed & Titled Lower Right
Prov: Purchased directly from the artist.
Private Collection Adelaide
$20,000-30,000
Few Australian artists have developed a single visual motif with the enduring power of Tim Storrier’s burning rope. First conceived during travels through the Australian interior in the early 1980s, the image of a suspended line of fire stretched across an expansive horizon became one of the defining symbols of his career. What began as a fleeting intervention in the landscape evolved into a decades-long exploration of space, time and memory, with the blaze line serving as both a physical presence and a poetic metaphor within the vast Australian landscape.
From the early Point to Point paintings through to the celebrated Blaze Line series and later works depicting smouldering logs and glowing embers, Storrier continually returned to the transformative power of fire. The burning rope became a device that divided earth from sky, interrupted the stillness of the horizon and suggested both destruction and renewal. Although the fire itself is momentary, its image endures, allowing Storrier to explore the tension between permanence and impermanence while celebrating the immense scale and quiet beauty of the Australian interior.
Widely regarded as one of Australia’s most significant contemporary painters, Storrier has been the recipient of numerous honours, including the Sulman Prize in 1968 and the Archibald Prize in 2012. His work is represented in the National Gallery of Australia and every major state collection, and his distinctive vision has secured an important place in the story of Australian art. Works from this celebrated body of paintings remain among the most recognisable and sought-after of his career, reflecting an artist who transformed a simple line of fire into one of the enduring images of the Australian landscape.
