| SPRING 2008 |
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An Audience with Ben Johnson  In
an innovative project, that celebrates Liverpool as European Capital
of Culture, 2008, artist Ben Johnson has been completing a painting of
the city's panorama in front of an audience at the Walker Art Gallery.Sitting in the café of the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, it is clear that the people of the city love Ben Johnson. From the cleaner to the director, everyone wants to talk to him about the progress of his work. He's something of a local celebrity having had 50,000 visitors in the six weeks that the public were invited to watch the completion of his three-year project. The 8ft by 16ft canvas has got the whole city involved: 'From day one I've been totally dependent on the people of Liverpool,' says Johnson. 'Not just planners and architects - but people who let me take photographs from their bedroom windows. The whole painting is an act of collaboration - one, with the museum; two, with my team of assistants; and three, with the people of Liverpool.' The painting has been closed to the public for a week when I visit. Johnson and his team - which includes his wife, Sheila - are working furiously to complete it. 'We've been here 12 hours a day, seven days a week for the last few months. We have to be out of here in ten days, but I'm sure we'll get it done,' he says in his calm, confident manner. Two large white areas remain on the canvas. 'I'm just finishing the foreground of the Docks, next to the Tate Gallery - the trouble is the authorities can't decide where the new landing stage will be. Everyday they promise me that they'll make the decision but I'm having to decide whether to project what the architects would like or the reality of what is there now - I've decided on the reality.' However, the painting is far from realistic. The sky is bright, the buildings clean and colourful, and there are no cars on the streets. 'I accept this is an incredibly Utopian view of the city,' Johnson says, 'I've given back the memories without the blemishes.' There are also no people in his Liverpool: 'If I put people in, it would give a timeframe - I want anyone to put themselves in the painting and own that space,' he says. Rows of seating look into his temporary studio situated in one of the Gallery's rooms. Johnson usually works from his studio next to that of fellow artist Peter Blake in Hammersmith - so what was it like for him to work in such a public environment? 'In the end we really felt trapped within the enclosure,' he says. 'I tried not to make eye contact because I didn't want to be rude, but the second I looked up somebody would have a question. I couldn't even go to the loo, because I'd be standing there having a pee and someone would say: 'My gran's a painter, have you seen her work?' All of the conversations I had were worthwhile but it resulted in us falling behind the programme.' However Johnson always wanted this to be a public project. A few years ago he made a decision to only make paintings for public collections when his three other privately owned cityscapes received little exposure. Paintings of Zurich and Hong Kong (the latter commissioned to mark the British handover in 1997), both on display in their countries are rarely seen by the public - which he says is 'disappointing.' And a third panorama of Jerusalem has never been exhibited. All three will also be shown at the Walker Gallery from May. Johnson says that in doing the Liverpool painting he sees himself as a public servant. He is wholly supportive of the Gallery's inclusive policy, and hopes that the painting will 'deepen people's understanding of the city.' The Gallery is organising outreach projects involving local universities, schools and faith groups.  'We've already started to tap into the rich archive of stories that people have about growing up in Liverpool,' he says. 'We had people sitting here for up to three hours - initially sitting on their own - then talking about particular bits of the painting to their neighbour and an hour later about their great-grandparents and stories about growing up in the city.' How does that make him feel as an artist? 'I just think that the painting's worked - it's done is job,' he replies.The process of producing such a painting is a long and thorough one. Johnson photographed all the streets in the city so that his three draughtspeople could reconstruct the buildings - taking 3,500 photographs in the process. From these digital models, he then transfers the buildings to canvas: 'The rules of perspective we're using were established in 1480, but we happen to carry it out on computer. We produce vector-based drawings, because I use a spray gun and need stencils. And then the stencil cutter uses digital files to generate the cuts,' he explains. The scale of the project demands that Johnson doesn't work alone: 'For 40 years I was typical of many artists that enjoy the isolation and privacy of the studio,' he says. 'But as I became more ambitious, I needed assistance to back up what I didn't have time to do. Now I use the skills of others - on many occasions I act as their assistant.' However humble Johnson may be, he is still the visionary in the operation: 'I'm very much the team leader,' he acknowledges, 'it wouldn't have happened without me. I had a concept that needed to be realised.' Ben Johnson's Liverpool Cityscape is at The Walker Art Gallery, 24 May - November 2008. Further info: www.liverpoolmusuems.org.uk/walker |
