Office Space

Office Space in collaboration with LOT-EK Architecture & Design announces the solo exhibition of Mickey Ackerman, titled, "Reclaiming the Past / the rhythm of negative and positive." The exhibition will feature 30+ sculptural works by Ackerman and is co-curated by Kun Kyung Sok and Chunbum Park. ​

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Statement by Mickey Ackerman:

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Is my work a representation of me or is it just a snapshot into a moment of quiet and stillness for me? The latter seems more accurate. I’m getting ahead of myself. Before I talk about my work, I should tell you about me.

Just a short quick seventy years ago I was born and grew up a little over a mile from here in the West Village. Growing up in The Village during the 1950’s and 1960’s was an exciting time. I was lucky that I grew up around art and artists.

Greenwich House Pottery was a special place for me. My mother, who studied with Alexander Archipenko, brought me there as a young child. Learning about ceramics was the beginning of a lifelong journey to understand and study materials and how to work with them. I’ve never looked back. On the other hand, school was a challenge. Being a neuro-diverse learner in a time when no one even knew what that meant, was not easy. I describe myself as winning the trifecta-dyslexic, OCD and ADD.

 

In the 1960’s I was busy learning morse code, building ham radios, working on cars and working in construction. I was always building something and my family was always supportive. Somehow, I found my way into Industrial Design and teaching. I continued to study materials and manufacturing while expanding my ability to make and build things. My profession and career aside I’ve always made time to create in a studio.

I’m a collector, junkman, hoarder and a treasure finder always looking to find things that may, with a little energy, have a new life or new form. Things that were discarded but are still are interesting in their shape and form. Putting things together that were never meant to be together. Looking at the world differently
is something that comes so easily to me. It’s not work, and I do it for me.

 

It's not what my work is about or what it means that’s important to me. What’s important is how I feel when I make the work. “Other worldly”, too extreme, “peaceful and quiet” spot on! For me my mind is always on and always moving, seeing, counting, processing….. I find comfort in the materials and in the process, there are no misspellings in art.

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Essay by Kun Kyung Sok:

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Mickey Ackerman’s work is a quiet symphony of renewal—a meditation on the endless cycle of creation, decay, and rebirth. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, Ackerman transforms the discarded into objects of beauty, weaving fragments of the past into stories of becoming. For him, nothing in this world is ever truly lost; everything is part of a larger rhythm, an infinite loop of transformation. His art is not merely made—it is awakened, drawing from materials left behind and breathing new life into forgotten forms. He describes this process as “reframing,” a dynamic approach to art-making that honors both the material’s history and its potential to take on new life.

Ackerman finds deep inspiration in artists such as Clyde Connell and Leroy Person. Both Connell and Person explored the profound relationship between form, nature, and materiality. Clyde Connell, a self-taught artist working in the rural South, drew inspiration from her surroundings, creating earthy, organic sculptures that referenced both human spirituality and natural rhythms. Similarly, Leroy Person, grounded in intuition, carved wood into fluid, meditative forms, finding profound expression in simplicity and texture. Like these artists, Ackerman builds upon this tradition of honoring the material, approaching his creative process with patience, humility, and a deep respect for the wood’s origins.

Ackerman’s flowing wooden sculptures highlight the dialogue between the artist and the material. Crafted from pieces of poplar and basswood, these sculptures invite the wood to lead the creative process. Each curve, bend, and shape reflects the natural grain and texture of the material, as though the wood itself whispers its intentions. By surrendering control and allowing the wood’s intrinsic properties to shape the outcome, Ackerman creates organic, fluid forms that
seem to move and breathe. These sculptures serve as metaphors for balance and collaboration—between the artist and the material, and between humans and the natural world.

 

The negative space within his work holds as much meaning as the sculpted forms themselves. Negative space refers to the peripheral, the leftover, the discarded—the empty area that remains after something is cut away or deemed unnecessary. Negative and positive always coexist, like light and shadow, or presence and absence. This interplay recalls Connell’s earthy forms, where emptiness and fullness coexist in delicate balance. It also nods to Person’s focus
on carving into the material, creating forms that derive their power as much from what is removed as from what remains. In Ackerman’s work, negative space becomes a metaphor for possibility, suggesting that even what is left behind holds potential. Reframing and recycling transform negative space into positive space and vice versa, creating an interplay and reversal of negative and positive spaces. This process achieves a visual philosophical inversion.

Ackerman composes these sculptural paintings through contrasting but interplayed ideas of "openness" and "closure." In his 8×10 acrylic collages, he arranges flowing, meandering wooden pieces on rectangular panels, adding vibrant colors. The boundaries of the frame suggest focus, clarity, and completion. Yet even within their structure, the collages pulse with life, their bold colors and layered forms vibrating with dynamic energy. This energy suggests an explosive force waiting to break free—moments of pause that are necessary before a new opening can occur.

In contrast, his freestanding, fluid sculptures create their own boundaries without a frame. They move like flowing water, unconfined and dynamic. These sculptures can shift positions, freely charting their own paths and creating new compositions. Their organic forms and curving shapes convey a sense of expansion, as though they ripple beyond their boundaries. Even when complete, they feel in motion, like a breath caught mid-inhale. Openness, for Ackerman, is about embracing possibility, welcoming movement, and remaining receptive to what is yet to come.

This philosophy resonates with contemporary ecological thought: all things—human and non- human—are interconnected within an endless web of existence. Ackerman’s art is not only about materials; it is about recognizing our role within this interconnected system. We, too, open and close, create and dissolve, as part of a larger rhythm.

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