SUNLIGHT: Roger Ackling

18 May-22 Sep 2024

Overview

SUNLIGHT is the first major survey of the work of British artist Roger Ackling (1947-2014) and the most significant exhibition of his work to date. For 50 years, Ackling consistently made objects by burning wood - focussing sunlight through the lens of a hand-held magnifying glass to scorch repeated patterns of lines on the surface.

Like his contemporaries Richard Long and Hamish Fulton, Ackling challenged the traditional methods of making sculpture by taking his art out of the studio and into the landscape environment.

Graduating from St Martin's School of Art, London in 1968, Ackling's career is notable for both his work and his long and influential teaching career. The exhibition will reveal the breadth of his practice, from his earliest experiments with a lens, to his final works made in the last months of his life.

Ackling is best known for his work on found driftwood. SUNLIGHT expands this reputation to include lesser-known works, which use domestic wooden objects and tools and incorporate readymade elements such as elastic bands and mapping pins. The exhibition will also feature works on card and paper that have not been exhibited in the UK.

SUNLIGHT will introduce Ackling's work to a new generation of audiences, prompting important conversations about the status of the object, the significance of material, the processes of making and the transformative power of display.

Artists