Artist Ben Johnson’s regard for people of Liverpool

May 23 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

IT’S fair to say that for many, the Liverpool Cityscape had already become one of the city’s most cherished artworks before it was even finished.

From tomorrow, the completed painting goes on display at the Walker Art Gallery, where it is expected that bumper crowds will come to see it over the coming year.

The exhibition, Ben Johnson's Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series, runs from Saturday until November and displays all of the artist's cityscapes together for the first time.

The Liverpool Cityscape is joined by panoramas of Zürich, Jerusalem and Hong Kong and paintings representing Chicago and Paris.

Loaned from private and public collections alike, it is the first time the stunning collection has been seen together and is something of a trip down memory lane for the artist.

He said: “It’s very strange for me because I lived with all of these paintings for a minimum of two years each, so I should know them. But I’ve come in and they are like complete strangers.

“Usually when I am painting they are completed and taken away and I never see them again.

“So they look familiar, yet completely new.”

Johnson, who with his team finished the painting as part of a residency in the Walker for the public to watch, said: “I am looking forward to people coming in and I wish I could see people’s response to them, because I can learn so much from them.”

And it is the people that Llandudno-born Johnson remains fascinated in.

Yesterday he presented a print of the Liverpool Cityscape to the Queen on her visit to the city, but was more interested in wondering what happened to some of the members of the public who used to visit him as he worked.

In fact, Johnson spent so much time chatting to visitors to the gallery he fell behind schedule.

He remembers some regular visitors by name, and recalls receiving presents from some admirers.

“It was an incredible privilege to have that feedback from the people that I was making the painting for,” he said.

“And I was so dependent on them.

“I took this commission when NML (National Museums Liverpool) told me that it would be part of the legacy of the city for hundreds of years.

“The idea around the painting was to become a springboard for people of the city to have a voice.

“And there were so many wonderful stories being told by people. During my residency, people would sit there for an hour, people would start talking, go for a coffee to talk together about the links that had been established just by looking at the cityscape – and all the basis of having daubs of paint on a canvas.

“At the Walker, and this doesn’t always happen in museums, it is not a matter of being here for academics, or art collectors, they are for the people of the city. And that is really important.”

Ben Johnson is signing copies of the book Cityscape – Ben Johnson’s Liverpool and prints of the Liverpool Cityscape at the Walker Art Gallery from 11am to 1pm today. And visitors to the signing session will enjoy a sneak-preview of the exhibition.

vickyanderson