Roger Ackling: Sun Histories
28 March - 17 May 2015
‘Roger Ackling makes his work out of doors. He draws by focusing the sun’s rays through a magnifying glass and burning lines on the surface of a small piece of wood or card. He works from left to right across the surface of the piece with the sun always at his shoulder. The lines are photographic in its truest sense. Each mark or dot is a small black sun. Each line is a repeat pattern of burnt sun images, scaled down many million times. Images of the sun, that is, minus any object which intervenes between the glass in his hand and the sun one hundred and fifty million kilometres away; when a bird passes overhead, its shadow is captured within the burnt sunspot. An outline blocking out the light may be as small as a bird or as large as a cloud, but its presence registers. Each dot records the history of the sun’s ray on its journey to earth.’
Sylvia Ackling, Weybourne – 1996
Kestle Barton is very pleased to be able to show an exhibition of work by the late Roger Ackling. His direct collaboration with the natural environment offers a thoughtful and sensitive approach to visual representation. The artwork for this exhibition is graciously provided on loan from the vast collection held by Annely Juda Fine Art; with kind support from Sylvia Ackling.
