In 1981 in Laguna Beach’s isolated Irvin Cove, Geyer erected “Surfline Erosion” in collaboration with Tom McMillin, the exemplar of his process-oriented environmental site pieces. The project was immense (7 x 13 x 75 ft), compromising huge, uniform slabs of stratified earth propped up evenly against by wooden buttresses. At first these solid canvases stood unyielding on their monstrous easels, braced against the death strokes of high tide and waves. Three weeks later, all that remained were scattered struts and remains of empirical data. “The piece began as geometric harmony that moved through entropy toward random chaos, a process that I thought was very beautiful.” Predetermined for destruction, “Surfline Erosion” was in effected doomed for success. The artist was there for the duration, noting and documenting every entropic detail.
– David Hfifrey