Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape 2008

[b4mmy]

Ben Johnson at work on his Liverpool cityscape

Ben Johnson’s architectural portrait of Liverpool celebrates the city’s status as European Capital of Culture in 2008. The 2.5m by 5m panoramic, which has been three years in the making, depicts 170ha of the city from a near bird’s-eye perspective. It will be accompanied by Johnson’s paintings of other cities including Chicago, Jerusalem and Hong Kong.

May 24-November 2
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

[Babaloo]

It will be interesting to see how it pans out.

More about Ben Johnson.

'The Liverpool Cityscape',

About the artist

Ben Johnson was born in Llandudno, north Wales in 1946. He studied at the Royal College of Art, London. His first solo exhibition was held in New York in 1969, and since then he has shown widely in Britain (including twice at the John Moores exhibitions of contemporary painting at The Walker Art Gallery Liverpool), the rest of Europe and the USA.

Ben’s paintings are concerned with architecture. Although they are very detailed and appear realistic, he does not regard himself as a photorealist. He represents cities from viewpoints that it would not be possible to see in reality, sometimes subtly manipulating their topography to create an ‘ideal’ view. In the case of Liverpool, for example, the Goodison Park and Anfield football grounds have been brought closer together so that both appear in the painting. The cities in Ben’s paintings also appear quite still, shown without dirt, traffic or people.

He was made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1990, the only contemporary painter to be so honoured, for his contribution to the public understanding of contemporary architecture. Indeed, much of his work has been commissioned by architects.

For several years Ben has been working on a series of paintings of cities. Those completed so far included representations of Paris, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Zurich and Chicago.

Ben tells us about 'The Liverpool Cityscape'

'My brief was to create a panoramic portrait of the city of Liverpool to act as an icon in the year 2008. It would also be an historic document celebrating Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture. Liverpool’s existing buildings were to be portrayed together with the buildings that have been designed and will be completed within this period, or landmark buildings upon which work had started. The painting was to stand alone as an independent art work and act as a catalyst for other community events and projects during the year of 2008 - events that would put the people back into the painting: an important factor, as my cities are unpopulated.

Following six weeks of investigations into views, and studying individual buildings, it was clear to me that the River Mersey and the Three Graces would occupy points of great significance in the painting. The two other important symbols helping to define the skyline of Liverpool are the two cathedrals. Therefore my proposal embraced a view taken from a spot over the Mersey six hundred and fifty metres back from the Cunard Building and one hundred and eighty metres above sea level. This is a near bird’s eye view. The central direction of the painting is looking slightly north of east.

This view covers one hundred and seventy hectares (or 1,700,000 square metres) of buildings with an angle of view of sixty two degrees. The boundary on the left hand side is Chapel Street/Tithebarn Street up to Everton and that on the right hand side is the Albert Docks up to the Anglican Cathedral. This is the area of concentrated drawing and description that are starting to form the bulk of the painting. It will include the whole of the world heritage site, the area covered in the 1990 Liverpool heritage walk, the majority of the buildings dealt with in the Pevsner’s Architectural Guide, the new Paradise Street development and of course the Museum of Liverpool.

The painting will be, in fact, a collection of many thousands of miniatures, where as much attention is paid to the simplest industrial warehouse as to the most ambitious ecclesiastical building.'

External links
Ben Johnson's website
Voice of calm: Ben Johnson's haunting cityscapes, The Guardian

Here is his website:

http://www.benjohnsonartist.com/benjohnsonartist.htm

[b4mmy]

I can't wait to see it, it already looks utterly fantastic.

[Louis1986]

looks great

[Paul D]

It almost looked like a photograph when I saw it in the echo,it looks fantastic.

[adman]

Originally Posted by M62

Ben Johnson at work on his Liverpool cityscape

Ben Johnson’s architectural portrait of Liverpool celebrates the city’s status as European Capital of Culture in 2008. The 2.5m by 5m panoramic, which has been three years in the making, depicts 170ha of the city from a near bird’s-eye perspective. It will be accompanied by Johnson’s paintings of other cities including Chicago, Jerusalem and Hong Kong.

May 24-November 2
Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk

Why has it taken him 3 years to do a pano? With all the developments currently on the go in the City, won't the final piece look outdated?

Sorry, but I'm underwhelmed

[b4mmy]

I strongly suspect that he will have included the latest (if not some future) developments... he does work for architects after all...

[adman]

Originally Posted by M62

I strongly suspect that he will have included the latest (if not some future) developments... he does work for architects after all...

LOL! I strongly suspect not so
I've seen his work in progress

[yoshef]

he's left a space for some of the newer developments like mann island, the museum, one park west... but I'm also disappointed that he hasn't included anything to the left of the st nicks/ liver building

Nation Museums Liverpool have a flickr page - dunno if im allowed to post these or not.. oh well:-

[woody]

Originally Posted by adman

Why has it taken him 3 years to do a pano? With all the developments currently on the go in the City, won't the final piece look outdated?

Sorry, but I'm underwhelmed

adman, oh ye of little faith, he`s had Nigel Lee holding his step ladder

[JUXTAPOL]

Well i'm very impressed even if parts are missed off.

[adman]

Sorry Chris and Juxt,
I sounded like a bit of twat there. It's an amazing piece of work.

[b4mmy]

Originally Posted by adman

Sorry Chris and Juxt,
I sounded like a bit of twat there. It's an amazing piece of work.

face it dave, you are a bit of a twat anyway... that's why I love you so much

[Joe the red]

This is not a realistic depiction of Liverpool. The clocks have no hands and there is no SSC photographer on the roof of the MSCP. Seriously though, this one piece of art that I am looking forward to more than any other.

[adman]

Originally Posted by M62

face it dave, you are a bit of a twat anyway... that's why I love you so much

Tis true

[the golden vision]

This is pat of a city wide etching from the 1860's.The detail and accuracy is incredible.

[Martin S]

That is an amazing panorama, carried out from a tethered hot air balloon. I think that what the artists did was to accurately draw the major landmarks and the road system and then fill in with some artistic licence. St Georges Hall, for example, is drawn to a larger scale than the buildings in St John's Lane. All the same, the level of detail is incredible and they must have spent some weeks in the balloon.

Apparently, the only major alteration to the street layout in the city centre since that time is the addition of Victoria Street.

[the golden vision]

Originally Posted by Martin S

That is an amazing panorama, carried out from a tethered hot air balloon. I think that what the artists did was to accurately draw the major landmarks and the road system and then fill in with some artistic licence. St Georges Hall, for example, is drawn to a larger scale than the buildings in St John's Lane. All the same, the level of detail is incredible and they must have spent some weeks in the balloon.

Apparently, the only major alteration to the street layout in the city centre since that time is the addition of Victoria Street.

Correct Martin. The survey was done in the early 1860's,Victoria St was laid out very soon after. It's a superb visual record of the city at the time.

[eyeam]

There is a two page colour spread in the Mail on Sunday today showing Ben Johnson and his team working on the cityscape

[Babaloo]

Here are some pics from The Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770