Richard Kenton Webb

<p><strong>Awards</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">2022: Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, USA</p> <p>2020: London Sunny Art Prize, First Prize Winner</p> <p>2020: London Sunny Art Prize, First Prize Winner<br /><br />2018: Tao Hua Tan Painting Residency, China<br /><br />2015: LARQ Residency, Tasmania, Australia<br /><br />2014: LARQ Residency, Tasmania, Australia<br /><br />1999: SACI International, Florence, Italy<br /><br />1988: St Stephen’s House, Oxford<br /><br />1986: Cheltenham Fellowship, Cheltenham Art School<br /><br />1985: Cité International des Arts, Paris<br /><br />1983: Boise Travelling Scholarship, British School, Rome<br /></p>

<p>A life’s work on colour as a language: the invention of a structured vocabulary for colour. This is in the form of a hand-crafted colour box and a series of talks and workshops to enable fluency in the language of colour. This Colour Grammar gives any art student the confidence to express what is in their imagination. It enables them to engage with colour and express their ideas through the material of paint, creating an immersive and sensory experience. In his own work, Richard explores the meaning, synaesthetic qualities and mystery of each colour as a metaphysical conversation. He makes his own paints using pure pigments. For the artist, colour is a material, an actual substance – it is physical paint. When engaging with the physicality of paint, an alchemy takes place and the painter can communicate emotions and memories. </p> <p>The importance of teaching the six visual languages of line, shape, space, movement, tone, and colour, together with material culture and technical skills. </p> <p>Promoting the need for observational drawing, and, in particular, drawing other living beings so that artists can begin to respect others by looking, drawing and imagining.</p> <p>Advocating for the relevance of the embodied arts in the age of AI. To defend painting as an ancient, pure and universal human language that contributes to our collective wellbeing. To uphold the principles of artistic integrity and originality as foundational to artistic practice.</p> <p>Upholding the creation of a physical object as the primary outcome of artistic expression without the necessity to justify with essay writing.</p> <p>The English visionary tradition: mystics, poets, artists and writers, in particular Julian of Norwich, William Shakespeare, John Milton, William Blake and T. S Eliot.</p> <p>Responding to pockets of disrespect for the embodied arts in the UK, particularly in the age of English iconoclasm (1540 – 1660). In this context, upholding the importance of materiality in the era of AI and the need to embrace engagement with the tangible world of materials.</p> <p>Bringing an awareness of the many discourses of contemporary painting around the world. Collaborating with academics, philosophers, psychoanalysts, musicians, writers, curators and gallerists in Plymouth, the UK and globally to open up interdisciplinary partnerships and conversations.</p>

<p><strong>Solo exhibitions (from 2011)</strong><br /></p> <p dir="ltr">2026: Pilgrims in Art, St Germans, Cornwall; Drawings, Whitworth University, Washington State, USA; Milton Drawings, Brigham University, Utah, USA</p> <p dir="ltr">2026: Passion Drawings &amp; English Iconoclasm, <a href="https://benjaminrhodes.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Benjamin Rhodes Arts, London<br /></a><br />2025: A Manifesto of Painting, <a href="https://mirrorplymouth.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mirror Gallery</a>, Arts University Plymouth<br /><br />2024: Richard Kenton Webb: <a href="https://www.artmillgalleries.co.uk/10-years-of-printmaking-richard-kenton-webb/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10 Years of Printmaking</a>, 2010-2020, Artmill, Plymouth, and <a href="https://www.miltonscottage.org/whats-on/exhibitions/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A Conversation with Milton’s ‘Paradise Regain’d &amp; Samson Agonistes’</a>, <a href="https://www.miltonscottage.org/">Milton’s Cottage</a>, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire<br /><br />2023: <a href="http://benjaminrhodes.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Benjamin Rhodes Arts</a>, London<br /><strong><br /></strong>2021: London Sunny Art Centre, Grays Inn, London<br /><br />2015: <em>Landscape is a Conversation</em>, LARQ Gallery, Queenstown, Tasmania; and <em>Drawings &amp; Prints</em>, Slade Gallery, London<br /><br />2014: <em>Still Life with Blackbirds</em>, Corinium Museum, Cirencester; <em>Thoughts in Search of a Thinker</em>, LARQ Gallery, Queenstown, Tasmania; and <em>New Work</em>, Celia Lendis Contemporary, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire<br /><br />2011: <em>Orangeness</em>, Abbey Walk Gallery, Grimsby</p> <p><strong><br />Group exhibitions (from 2011)</strong><br /></p> <p dir="ltr">2026: 21 Group, Artizan Gallery, Torquay; 21 Group, Pierson &amp; Pierson, Plymouth</p> <p dir="ltr">2025: <em>Winter Haiku</em>, The Underground Stream, Devon; Wells Contemporary, Wells Cathedral; Jackson’s Art Prize, The Bankside Gallery, London; 21 Group, Sou’ Sou’ West Gallery, Bridport; <em>Cloud of Witnesses</em>, St John’s Waterloo, London</p> <p dir="ltr">2024: Annual Open Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol</p> <p dir="ltr">2024-25: <em>Paradise Lost</em>, The Underground Stream, Devon</p> <p dir="ltr">2023-24:<em> Luminous. LIGHT . COLOUR . IMAGINATION</em>, with Emrys Williams, Benjamin Rhodes Arts, London; <em>Miniature</em>, The Underground Stream, Devon</p> <p dir="ltr">2023: Paint: <em>A Celebration of Teaching Painting</em>, Brownston Gallery, Modbury, Devon</p> <p dir="ltr">2023: Prints, Pierson &amp; Pierson, Plymouth</p> <p dir="ltr">2022: Inaugural Exhibitions, I and II at Benjamin Rhodes Arts, London</p> <p dir="ltr">2020: London Sunny Art Prize, Sunny Art Centre, London</p> <p dir="ltr">2020: <em>Signal</em>, Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, a collaboration of staff and students from the Slade, Sokei, LUCA, and the University of the West of England</p> <p dir="ltr">2019: <em>Seer: European Painting and Drawing</em>, Galleria Punto, Sokei Academy of Fine Art and Design, Tokyo, Japan</p> <p dir="ltr">2019: <em>Emergence: Art and the Incarnation of Space</em>, Martin Museum of Art, Texas, USA</p> <p dir="ltr">2018: <em>Tao Hua Tan Painters</em>, Hefei Modern Art, China</p> <p dir="ltr">2017: <em>Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue?</em> Kunstzaal, Onderder Toren, Hasselt, Belgium</p> <p dir="ltr">2017: <em>Go the Distance</em>, Kooi Space, PXL-MAD, Hasselt, Belgium</p> <p dir="ltr">2017: <em>Nine Painters</em>, curated by Dr Richard Davey, Syson Gallery, Nottingham</p> <p dir="ltr">2016: John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool</p> <p dir="ltr">2015: Cotswold Open Studios Group Show, Wetpaint Gallery, Cirencester</p> <p dir="ltr">2015: Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial, touring Japan</p> <p dir="ltr">2014: <em>The LARQ Effect</em>, Gallery Ten, Hobart, Tasmania</p> <p dir="ltr">2013: Annual Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol</p> <p dir="ltr">2013: <em>The Language of Paint</em>, two-person show with Iain Andrews, Atkinson Gallery, Millfield</p> <p dir="ltr">2013: Guanlan International Print Biennial, China</p> <p dir="ltr">2012: Winter show, Celia Lendis Contemporary, Moreton-in-Marsh</p> <p dir="ltr">2012: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London</p> <p dir="ltr">2012: <em>BITE: Artists Making Prints</em>, Mall Galleries</p> <p dir="ltr">2012: The Open West, Gloucester Cathedral</p> <p dir="ltr">2011: Winter Show, Abbey Walk Gallery, Grimsby<br /></p> <p><strong>Publications</strong></p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R. (2026) <em>Passion, </em>London: Benjamin Rhodes Arts, ISBN 978 1 9194264 0 2</p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R. (2025) <em>A Manifesto of Painting, </em>Mirror Gallery, Plymouth: Arts University Plymouth</p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R. (2024) <em>Why Explore Colour and Poetry? </em>Colour and Poetry: A Symposium, V. London: UCL, ISBN 978 0 903305 40 2, <em>pp67-68</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R. (2023)<em> Milton Across Borders and Media, </em>chapter 17 (<em>Intersemiotic Milton, A Contemporary Artist’s Response to the Synergies of Drawing and Painting in Paradise Lost)</em>, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780 1928447 43, <em>pp.317-332</em></p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R. (2023) <em>A Conversation with Milton’s Paradise Lost 2011-2021</em>, London: Benjamin Rhodes Arts</p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R. (April 2023) <em>Richard Kenton Webb Vol 5, Drawings from the Albers Series and Paintings from the Ongoing Manifesto Series</em>, London: Benjamin Rhodes Arts</p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R. (2021) <em>A Contemporary Artist’s Response to the Synergies of Drawing and Painting in Paradise Lost</em>, Dublin: Renaissance Society of America</p> <p dir="ltr">Reardon, J. and Webb, R. (2016) <em>Still Life with Blackbirds</em>, Oxford: Artists’ Choice Editions, ISBN 978 0 995570 0 0 </p> <p dir="ltr">Webb, R., (2015) <em>Drawing as a Way of Thinking,</em> Richard Kenton Webb: The Landscape as Discourse Queenstown: Landscape Art Research, <em>pp.10-31</em><br /></p> <p><strong>Film and audio visual</strong></p> <p>Parkinson, A., <em>Nine Painters, Syson Gallery, Nottingham</em>, [web blog], 26 April 2017</p> <p>Webb, R., <em>Drawing as a Way of Thinking</em>, [podcast], 27 October 2016</p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLTUkiJspahhKF7edvm2zQQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Webb, R.,<em> The Artist’s Vlog: Richard Kenton Webb</em>, [26 podcasts], 2014-15, YouTube</a></p> <p><a href="https://youtu.be/NTdKN9QGA8g" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Richard Kenton Webb Colour Forms</em>, 2013, dir. Christian Barnett, YouTube</a></p>