ICON-ISH is not an exhibition of Christian Icons. It is not an exhibition containing images with any innate or imbued sacramental quality. It is not an attempt at hagiography, or a visual prayer for the meritorious intercession of the Saints in Heaven. If it were, Will Langridge might have to hand in his Protestant card and sell his copies of Luther, Edwards and Calvin. Instead, this exhibition pays homage to the ancient tradition he stands in, and is his attempt to pull together various strands of Christian theology and aesthetic theories and look forward.
How should Christians, particularly those traditions rooted in the Reformation, approach images of the martyrs, angels, saints and God himself, which have long dominated the canon of art and the Church? The Reformed church stands with much of Western Art’s blood on their hands, and in doing so has taken a stance that largely alienates the visual, and the stories they confess, from the praxis and liturgy of the Church. How should we approach images and the saints and martyrs they present to us?
