Subsurface Exposure explores geological pressure, rupture, compaction and exposure through materially driven abstraction.

Drawing on a background in geology and subsurface mapping, Ackers creates paintings that behave less like images and more like geological events — fault lines, compressed fields, intrusions and voids.

Oil, cold wax, earth pigments and mineral material are layered, eroded and compressed to produce surfaces that feel excavated rather than painted.

Notes on the work

“The works are not representations of landscape. They operate more like exposed geological sections — traces of pressure, fracture, uplift and burial. Large voids function as silence, depth or absence; materially dense passages behave like compressed strata or tectonic collision zones.”

Recent exhibitions include the Gagliardi Gallery, King’s Road, London (July 2026), and the Chianciano Biennale 2026 at the Museo d’Arte di Chianciano Terme, Italy (August 2026). Chelsea Arts Club group exhibition (September 2026).

Selected press: La Reppublica Toscana - full page artist feature, August 2026

Sophie is a practising artist member of the Chelsea Arts Club. Works are held in private collections and corporate environments in London.