Table lands worn by recreational vehicles; Denver at right 1977

This is "Table lands worn by recreational vehicles; Denver at right" by Robert Adams. With photography, the "mark-making" is all about light and shadow. It's about seeing what's already there and deciding what to include, what to exclude. Adams is interested in the texture of the land, worn down by use. In the foreground, a discarded refrigerator contrasts with the natural forms. It’s a box against the curve of the earth. Your eye is drawn up the slope towards the buildings in the distance. Denver is there, but it’s faint. I am interested in the way that Adams’ work shares a common ground with the work of the New Topographics movement. Photographers in this group adopted a documentary style to capture the banality and disruption of the American landscape in the late 20th century. It’s a look that brings to mind artists like Bernd and Hilla Becher. It reminds us that art, like land, evolves through continuous reshaping. Nothing is ever truly new, just re-seen.