Uplands by Andy Sumner

Kyeema Art Gallery presents Uplands by Andy Sumner. Andy Sumner lived most of his life in Newcastle and Sydney, working as a software engineer before relocating to Canberra in early 2020, beginning his long dreamed-of career as a visual artist during COVID lockdowns. His expressive, colourful semi-abstact landscape paintings are created using synthetic polymer and ink on a variety of surfaces, strongly inspired by Canberra's surroundings and the interaction of nature and human civilisation. "As a newcomer to life in Canberra, I wasn't prepared for its golden clear light, or the many wild spaces scattered through the suburbs on every ancient hilltop. Walking in these places, which feel like a different world to the suburbs below, and seeing the effect humanity has had in past land-clearing, farming and introduced weeds, with the slow recovery of remnant forest, it's made me feel & think deeply about the effect our civilisation has on nature - its fragility yet its resilience, themes that I have explored through this collection of paintings."