Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Exhibition Flyer
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Rebecca Ackroyd
Trickle, 2022
Drawing - Gouache, soft pastel on Somerset satin paper
184 x 143 cm (73 x 56 in)
Framed Dimensions: 190 x 145 x 5 cm (75 x 57 x 2 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
Boring content, 2022
Drawing - Gouache, soft pastel on Somerset satin paper
185 x 133 cm (73 x 52 in)
Framed Dimensions: 189 x 137 x 5 cm (74 x 54 x 2 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
playing alone, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, steel, acrylic paint
85 x 56 x 56 cm (34 x 22 x 22 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
playing alone, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, steel, acrylic paint
85 x 56 x 56 cm (34 x 22 x 22 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Rapid, 2022
Drawing - Gouache, soft pastel on Somerset satin paper
184 x 137 cm (73 x 54 in)
Framed Dimensions: 189 x 142 x 5 cm (74 x 56 x 2 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
playing alone, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, steel, acrylic paint
85 x 56 x 56 cm (34 x 22 x 22 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Natural order, 2022
Drawing - Gouache, soft pastel on Somerset satin paper
148 x 145 cm (58 x 57 in)
Framed Dimensions: 154 x 152 x 5 cm (61 x 60 x 2 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
fertile ground, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, fibre glass, steel, threaded bar, bolts
178 x 55 x 83 cm (70 x 22 x 33 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
The minds eye, 2022
Drawing - Gouache, soft pastel on Somerset satin paper
40 x 58 cm (16 x 23 in)
Framed Dimensions: 54 x 72 x 4 cm (21 x 28 x 2 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
fertile ground, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, fibre glass, steel, threaded bar, bolts
178 x 55 x 83 cm (70 x 22 x 33 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
fertile ground, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, fibre glass, steel, threaded bar, bolts
178 x 55 x 83 cm (70 x 22 x 33 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Inner workings, 2022
Drawing - Gouache, soft pastel on Somerset satin paper
180 x 132 cm (71 x 52 in)
Framed Dimensions: 186 x 137 x 5 cm (73 x 54 x 2 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
fertile ground, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, fibre glass, steel, threaded bar, bolts
178 x 55 x 83 cm (70 x 22 x 33 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Bare recollection, 2022
Drawing - Gouache, soft pastel on Somerset satin paper
60 x 60 cm (24 x 24 in)
Framed Dimensions: 70 x 70 x 4 cm (28 x 28 x 2 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
Installation View
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Photographed by: Siwoo Lee, OnArt studio
Rebecca Ackroyd
playing alone, 2022
Sculpture - Epoxy resin, steel, acrylic paint
85 x 56 x 56 cm (34 x 22 x 22 in)
Rebecca Ackroyd
Fertile Ground
August 30 – October 13, 2022
Peres Projects, Seoul
Peres Projects is pleased to present Fertile Ground, Rebecca Ackroyd’s (b. 1987 in Cheltenham, UK) first solo exhibition in Asia.
Made up of new works on paper as well as two sculptures, Ackroyd describes an encounter with a building site in London as the impetus for this exhibition. A deep gash in the ground, reveals a complex system of pipes and metal within the foundation of the planned structure. In Fertile Ground, the artist explores the infrastructure of the subconscious, and the subterranean workings of memory.
The materials for the foundation of a building are heavy, made up of stone, concrete and steel. Yet Ackroyd’s works are anything but stable, her surreal compositions of mundane and domestic subjects such as fasteners and drains trigger a feeling of failed recognition, eliding fixed meaning, and despite the rosy color palette of soft pinks, reds, greens and oranges, invoke an uncanny atmosphere and an emotionally ambiguous charge.
The exhibition is punctuated by a repeating spiral pattern which feels as if it leads us into the recesses of the psyche. This visual symbol for time references Ackroyd’s ongoing dialogue with psychoanalysis, and the dialectical relationship between memory and the subject. A central tension in her work is the rehearsal of the past in the present, and the slippery and fragmented character of memory, distorted in time through its retelling and repetition and how this nonetheless provides the structure of the subconscious and the foundation for the present.
In the titular sculpture, the artist has cast herself wearing a pair of her mother’s boots in epoxy resin. The torso and legs are separated, suspended above and within a metal cage, while circular saw blades are positioned in the place of the diaphragm and below the seat of the legs. The translucent material and fragmented, rough edges gives the work a spectral quality. The boots from the 1960’s worn today by the artist contributes to this haunting temporal compression – the past in the present, an activation of memory.
This intergenerational dialogue gestures at another temporal mode – how the body keeps time through fertility. Ackroyd’s practice of self-reflexively delves into the link between creative expression and the unconscious. The development of her pieces reflect a spontaneity and freedom in the creative process, while remaining tethered to her own experiences. As the artist’s work becomes increasingly personal and vulnerable, it reflects her own individual experiences, memories and the shifting substrates of time.
This is Ackroyd’s third solo exhibition with Peres Projects and her first in our Seoul space. Ackroyd has exhibited in a number of international exhibitions including solo exhibitions The Root, curated by Paul Luckraft, at the Zabludowicz Collection, London and Underfoot, curated by Cloé Perrone, at the Fondazione Pomodoro in Milan. Group exhibitions include Masters and Servants, Ygrec Gallery, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy (ENSAPC), Paris, cadavre exquis, Galleria Massimo, Minini, Italy, Act 1: Body en Thrall, curated by Sarah Holdaway, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, UK and Mademoiselle, curated by Tara Londi, Centre Régional d’Art Contemporain Occitanie, Sète in France. In 2019, her work was also presented at the 15th Lyon Biennale, organized by the curatorial team of the Palais de Tokyo. Ackroyd has an upcoming solo exhibition in 2023, curated by Adam Budak at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover.
For further information and sales inquiries, please contact Kacey E. Cho (kacey@peresprojects.com).
For press and media inquiries, please contact seoul@peresprojects.com or +82 2 2233 2335
Please note that attendance will be subject to all local COVID-19 related requirements at that time. We will publish updated info prior to the event.