As soon as I walked into the gallery for the Evan Summer show, I immediately knew that I would connect to this exhibition at a greater height than the previous show from Richard Jochum. For me, Summer has an aesthetic very close to my own, with what seems to be perfectionist detail. It was a much more tangible show for me.
Initially walking into the room what stood out to me most was the size that Summer worked in. One piece in particular, called Green House would not have been as successful as it was had it not been on such a grand scale. With the time and effort that exists in printmaking and collage making, most do not work in such scales. Being in a printmaking class right now, and thoroughly understanding the whole process that Summer uses I can only imagine the time and effort that is put into all of his pieces. Similarly, Summer’s landscape pieces attracted me because of how he incorporates architecture into an environment where it is not typically seen. The detail he exudes brings you deeper into the piece only to enhance the admiration for what seems to me as a battle between architecture and the natural world.
Not being particularly interested in bugs, Summer dragged me into his pieces again, with his great detail. The piece called Lynns Giant Grasshopper immediately stole my attention. I took interest when Summer was talking about this piece particularly because he made sure to enlighten the audience about how typically there is symmetry in these types of bugs; but because of how he photographed and lit the bug, he was able to get an angle that wouldn’t have been possible to the naked eye.
A particular aspect that bothered me about Summer’s works is the lines that are left showing. In his workshop, he talked about personal decisions for his work; there are so many rules made in art and most times people are even more successful when these rules are broken. For the majority, I believe that the decisions made by Summer are the right move, for example enclosing his grasshopper in a completely blacked out background. However, when it came to the lines being visible to the viewer, that is one decision I would have made differently. To me, they become distracting and take away from the overall impact, specifically in the piece End House.
Being able to attend both the opening and the workshop, Evan Summer is an artist that truly caught my interest. I not only got to see the results that he has successfully made, but I was also able to see where the work came from. Being able to examine the collaged plates that he has made added to my interest in his work, and added to my interest in pursuing this type of art in my near future.
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