ACKROYD & ACKROYD

This is the fifth biennial exhibition of etchings by Royal Academician Norman Ackroyd at North House Gallery and the first of paintings by Simeon Ackroyd, son not only of Norman Ackroyd but also of the gallery owner Penny Hughes-Stanton. Simeon moved with his mother to her home town of Manningtree in 1997 and so has been involved with the gallery since its inception in 1999, but only this year did she consider him ready to show his work there.

Norman Ackroyd was born in 1938 in Leeds. He studied at Leeds College of Art (1956-61) and the Royal College of Art (1961-64). He was elected a Royal Academician in 1988, appointed Professor of Etching at the University of the Arts, London in 1994 and elected a Senior Fellow, Royal College of Art in 2000. In 2007 he was awarded a CBE for Services to Engraving and Printing. He is an acknowledged master of etching and has been producing etchings large and small for over 40 years. His large steel murals grace seven public and private buildings in the UK and the British Embassy in Moscow.

This exhibition contains a selection of etchings from Norman's travels over the last two years. Ireland is still the main focus with the two latest annual sets of etchings, Shannon and Malin, familiar as names to Radio 4 listeners from the shipping forecasts. There is a powerful image of the swirling waters of the Shannon and an impressively large etching of The Three Sisters, Dingle (as well as a small version). Aran and the Skelligs reappear as do favourite places in Norfolk, the Hebrides and the Lake District.

Simeon Ackroyd was born in 1983, did his Foundation year at Colchester Institute (2001-2) and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Fine Art from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he had participated in and curated several student shows. Since then he has been working in London where he had his first solo show last Autumn.

His paintings are as different from his father's as it possible to be. The atmosphere of Norman's monochrome etchings comes from the ominous power of the ocean and the weather. The atmosphere emanating from Simeon's work derives from anonymous people as they relate to each other in ambiguous ways in equally ominous urban settings. At first the viewer is perplexed by the images, then mildly disturbed and then laugh-out-loud amused. His colours are highly saturated and bravely juxtaposed. His influences range from Kirchner and Ensor, Giacometti, Auerbach and Bacon and many contemporaries including Doig.