Landscape XXXIV (First State) 1997

Curator: Evan Summer's "Landscape XXXIV (First State)," created in 1997, offers a fascinating convergence of landscape and geometric abstraction. It’s primarily rendered through drawing and printmaking techniques using graphite. Editor: Immediately, it strikes me as a landscape haunted by architecture, or maybe an architectural rendering slowly being swallowed by the earth. There's an intense fragility to those lines, like they might vanish any second. Curator: I see that fragility, definitely. For me, it feels like Summer is exploring how we impose order onto the natural world, the inherent tension when human design meets organic form. Look at the way he juxtaposes precise geometric shapes with the looser rendering of the landscape. Editor: Absolutely, and the means of production—graphite, printmaking—emphasize this delicate balance. It feels deliberately provisional, questioning the very idea of a permanent or stable landscape. It makes me consider the carbon footprint of these kinds of material processes. Graphite mining, even paper production, comes with a cost. Curator: A fascinating point, especially given that it's called 'First State'. It hints at process, the artist grappling with an idea that’s still forming. I think it captures a transient moment—like a sketch or dream fading from memory. Editor: True. The “First State” title suggests we're witnessing a phase, not a finished product, perhaps a preliminary sketch used for labor division across the studio. What’s fascinating, and it hits me now, is how exposed and precarious the materials and process make the landscape itself seem. The stark linearity, the use of graphite… the work almost mourns an industrialized world. Curator: I resonate with your sense of mourning. It's there for me too. There’s a quiet melancholic beauty, isn’t there? It reminds us of the ephemeral quality of landscapes themselves and human endeavours within them. Editor: Exactly, a material meditation on fleeting beauty. I feel almost compelled to look up where Summer sources his graphite. It’s definitely made me rethink our connection to materials and process. Curator: It's work that lingers, definitely.