Evan Summer

When I first entered the Evan Summer show I was instantly curious. I had absolutely no idea what I was seeing. The whole idea of printmaking was completely foreign to me. I have seen pieces made that way in books and on the Internet and definitely found the experience is completely different when it is in person. I really enjoyed the different levels he was able to achieve and allowed the images to appear as if they were so far off of the surface, which is something that gets completely lost when viewed anyway not in person.

Aside from the medium, another thing that I found appealing was that there was a clear progression in his work. In his earlier work he had a rougher quality to it. The lines were much thicker and he stayed mostly with black and white. His line quality definitely evolved from then on and became much more refined and delicate. He then began to introduce slight amounts of color into his work. In his most recent piece, he added significantly more color. It was much more saturated and became much less about line.

As far as my opinion on the concept of his work goes, I am very torn. I feel that with his insect pieces, although beautifully executed, I left not knowing what they were about at all. I originally thought that it was supposed to be some sort of size reversal. I thought that the intentions were to make the viewer feel small next to this large bug but the scale was not quite large enough to evoke that. In hearing him talk he said that the size was actually quite accurate so then I was just lost. I feel as if they are simply bugs.They do not interact with anything else and because I could not really relate to them in any way, I found myself dismissing them compared to the rest of his work.

I really did enjoy his landscapes and the openness for interpretation within the. He was really accurately able to join the two realms of architecture and nature very we. Although they had sharp lines and edges, his work gives a sense of peace. My mind wandered in every piece. I walked away from the show frustrated with trying to wrap my head around his reasoning and logic behind his pieces. I guess that means it was a success.