Roger Ackling takes drift wood and discarded wooden items and transforms them into small and intimate sculptures with the use of the sun and a magnifying glass. By projecting sunlight through the glass he burns lines of tiny dots on to the wood’s surface to form geometric patterns. The results are intimate and curious yet familiar and reassuring.
The pieces of wood and objects that Ackling uses are found on walks: remnants of previous objects now obsolete or abandoned, unidentifiable or broken – sometimes weathered by time and sometimes by use – often with holes or patches of earlier paintwork.
This exhibition of Roger Ackling’s is of new sculptures all made over the last two years. They include a group of works made on old fruit and vegetable slatted boxes. Ackling has always been interested in the relationship between manufactured products and nature. In today’s society the notion of recycling and of the intrinsic value of things – natural or manmade – has particular resonance.
Other works included in the show are on smaller pieces of wood – sections of dismantled, unidentifiable things – inviting enquiry into their previous useage or provenance. The objects themselves and the patterns placed on them reinforce Ackling’s interest in geometry and symmetry.
Roger Ackling has been exhibiting since 1967 and has had many one-person exhibitions in London, Europe, Asia and America. He has exhibited with Annely Juda Fine Art since 1987 and is represented in important public collections worldwide including The British Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Tate Gallery and The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. This is his fifth one man show at Annely Juda Fine Art.
