Artist born in Isleworth, Middlesex, who studied at St Martin’s School of Art after working as a gardener. He had many solo shows in Britain and abroad including LCF and Lisson Galleries from 1976; Amano Gallery, Osaka, from 1983; Juda Rowan Gallery, 1987; and Annely Juda Fine Art from 1990. His exhibition at Annely Juda in 1994 was largely of driftwood fragments taken from the beaches and foreshores of East Anglia which he then scored by using a burning glass, the ambiguous resulting objects often being quite small. Ingleby Gallery in Edinburgh and Crawford Arts Centre, St Andrews, gave Ackling exhibitions in 2004. Arts Council, British Council, Tate Gallery and many foreign collections hold his work, which was completed in Norfolk and London.