Religious Art
In this section there are 80 paintings that have been grouped broadly into the genre of Religious Art. Works from across the four decades that Ffyffe was in London are included. There are also religious themed works to be found in the Cosmic Art section of this website.
Terry’s interest in religious art may have been sparked because of his upbringing in a devout Catholic home where ritual and tradition were important. He was further influenced during his years living in London where he studied Old Masters, travelled through Europe visiting galleries and cathedrals and became even more interested in stories from the New Testament.
The spiritual malaise of mankind was a theme throughout Ffyffe’s painterly life. He painted many portraits of Jesus, and many crucifixions and there are several of them in different hues and contexts.
In 2012-2013, Ffyffe, convinced that his prior works hadn’t adequately depicted the passion of Jesus to his satisfaction, embarked on a series of large canvases, revealing his theological insights into the Passion of Christ.
Christ is both human and divine…but relinquishes his divinity to fully embrace his humanity. Frightened beyond belief as he knew what awaited him yet humbly accepting his fate. In his suffering we are not passive. In this series, many of the ghoulish characters from earlier decades are reanimated. Humanity is represented as celebrating Christ’s arrest, its smiling clownlike masks leering and mocking, arrogant, ignorant and brutal in their affirmation and participation in His humiliation. Ffyffe’s crucifixion is not set in ancient Palestine. He dies on a hill overlooking a modern city, lights blazing in the background.
Christ is not restored to his pristine body. The horrendous impact of the scourging with a cat of nine tails shows a body blooded and ripped. Ffyffe does not sugarcoat the violence.
Ffyffe’s most ambitious and compelling piece in this series is his Christ in Hell Triptych (2012). Paying homage to artists Hieronymus Bosch and Dante, the details of the writhing figures of hell are suffering multiple torments. Savagely thorned lianes rip through the writhing bodies. Grotesque disfigurations abound, skulls expanding to reveal shark jaws swallowing their fellow man, fingers transforming into roots and branches, elephants and griffins terrorise the tortured masses as Christ appears through the fireball inferno.
Ffyffe’s large religious works were exhibited at the 2013 Passion of Christ Exhibition, The Eternal High Priest Church, Gidea Park, Essex.
For details including dimensions and the indicative price of each piece, please click the relevant image.
