Local artist, Roz Avent has an exciting new exhibition at the Castlemaine Art Museum. Altered States features a major new work in seven panels and a series of works on paper. These new works are a continuation of Roz's current interest in the effects of colour relationships. There is a musicality to Avent's selection and arrangement of colours and forms which is particularly evident in the title work of the exhibition, Altered States. Unexpected pauses and intervals create a syncopated jazz beat across the work. A dynamic vibration is set in play across the stripes and blocks of colour which ricochet and rebound off each other while maintaining a strong internal coherence. The small lyrical works on paper are part of a discipline in which the artist randomly selects coloured pencils, allowing in elements of chance and serendipity at the beginning of the creative process. These are works which play gently on the viewer's emotions. Some are calm and harmonious, others unsettling and intense. All are beautifully filled with cadence and rhythm. The exhibition continues until 1 June in the Benefactors Gallery.