If you’ve ever been to Italy, you will have encountered abundant beauty at every turn. Churches are full of a visual feast that, to this day, takes your breath away. I love Italy. This is probably what we would have had here in England before it was all destroyed by the iconoclasts. I see myself as part of this English visionary tradition. As a result, I have a deep sense of grief for this loss because this is my artistic heritage.
PASSION drawings & ENGLISH ICONOCLASM paintings
My most recent show at Benjamin Rhodes Arts is about my personal passion and journey from despair to hope. I found healing by completing these Passion drawings.
In addition, the ENGLISH ICONOCLASM paintings are a discussion about the loss of our nation’s rich visual heritage in the age of iconoclasm.
Act of defiance
The first thing you see as you enter the show is a man. For me, this an image of God as man – Jesus Christ. This is an act of defiance to the prohibition of making such an image.
The age of English iconoclasm
The period 1540 to 1660 was the age of English iconoclasm. Throughout these years, it would have been idolatry or heresy to make such an image. I would have been arrested and possibly burnt alive for making this work.
A thousand years of creativity lost
Prior to this, our nation experienced over a thousand years of faith-based creativity. As a result, there was a deep and rich heritage of image-making. Ultimately, our churches would have been packed with beautiful stained glass, frescoes and sculpture. English iconoclasm was an act of violence that obliterated our abundant and vibrant visual past. For over 120 years, this intense violence raged against our great cultural inheritance. Unfortunately, our cultural inheritance was white-washed, obliterated, burnt and destroyed.
The contemplation of faith through art
The contemplation of faith through paintings, sculptures, tapestries, stained glass and plays was at the heart of medieval England. The mystery plays are testament to these embodied arts that brought people of all backgrounds together. The same expression of faith came with the English poets, like Langland, Gower, the Gawain poet, Chaucer and the many anonymous Romance writers. And finally, with the beautiful writings of the English Mystics like Richard Rolle, the Cloud writer, Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe.
Personal narrative: passion drawings
My 24 Passion drawings have come out of this same empathetic visual tradition of re-imagining God’s self-sacrifice by placing myself inside of it. I am trying to make sense of my own experiences and this violent world of the 21st century where human beings are capable of so much hatred. Julian of Norwich’s Revelation of Love (1343-1416) has been a great solace. Her ‘showings’ give optimism to myself and many others. Ultimately, I find such hope in the narrative of God’s Passion. I want others to be inspired by this act of love.
Context paintings
To give context, I have placed some paintings next to my Passion drawings. Mainly, I want these paintings to communicate my thoughts and grief. Iconoclasm has resulted in a change of identity for our nation. Basically, colour gave way to the world of black and white fundamentalism. We have lost that beautiful synergy that image can have with words.
As Professor Hugh Adlington writes so eloquently in his accompanying essay, ‘The smashing, defacing, or removal of religious images and the closing of theatres sought to establish a purer word-based worship…. and in so doing, forcing ruptures and ‘dissociations’ in T. S. Eliot’s phrase, between cognate pairings such as mind and body, thought and feeling, spirit and matter.’
I’m not sure if this separation of mind and body has ever been repaired. Today, in academia, we can see this word-based domination squashing creativity. Our institutions need a more embodied and inclusive approach.
My life’s work has always been about the restoration of colour, the colour of love.
Primarily, I would like to see creatives reclaim what has been lost, discovering the depths and full meaning of colour through paint.
Colour as paint
For me, colour as paint is at the heart of our great visual poetry – it is a poetry of love made manifest.
I hope that people read the visuals in their purist form and come on this journey with me.
Solo exhibition
Passion Drawings & English Iconoclasm runs until 11th July 2026 at Benjamin Rhodes Arts, 62 Old Nichol Street, London, E2 7HP.
Accompanying publication
Passion, Richard Kenton Webb, is now published by Benjamin Rhodes Arts and includes a foreword by Dr Richard Davey and essay by Professor Hugh Adlington, ISBN 978-1-9194264-0-2, price £30.
