Schmidt Contemporary Art is pleased to present an exhibition of works by artist Roger Ackling. "For nearly 40 years I have made my work using the same method. By over-exposing direct sunlight through a small hand-held lens, images of the sun are brunt onto discarded wood. I work outside on the ground and under the sky. In these solitary, still moments with the wood on my lap, the outer visual world no longer occupies my mind. Thoughts are reduced to a minimum, and what occurs is a quality of engagement to an inner indefinable realm of the human spirit. I know that what is made from this simple, concentrated ritual is held within the work itself. This presence can be re-absorbed through the senses and the eye. A silent non-negotiable realm of human experience; a vibration of the soul's life. Like many others for thousands of years, I believe that insight can be seen and rekindled through a pragmatic dialogue with material." -Roger Ackling, Summer, 2008
Roger Ackling (born in London in 1947) has worked in a variety of locations, from the remote beaches of England and Iceland to Manhattan and Japan. With the use of a simple magnifying glass, Ackling concentrates the rays of the sun in order to burn and mark the surfaces of driftwood he has come across.Ackling has exhibited regularly since 1976 in Europe, Asia and the United States. His work is found in numerous collections, including those of the Tate Gallery, London; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Hiroshima Museum of Art; the Museo Cantonale d’Arte, Lugano; and the Arts Council of Great Britain. Ackling lives and works in Norfolk.