Life and Work
Ben Johnson was born in Llandudno, north Wales. He studied at the Royal College of Art in London. His first solo exhibition was held in New York in 1969. He is the only painter to have been made an honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), having been elected in 1990. In November 2010, he had his first solo exhibition of his paintings at Alan Cristea Gallery, London.
Johnson's pictures of buildings and architecture are large and highly detailed. His cityscapes have so far included Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Zurich, and Liverpool. The last was painted for Liverpool's European City of Culture celebrations in 2008. It took three years to complete, with the artist working alongside up to eleven assistants, and was completed during an artist residency at the Walker Art Gallery. The cityscapes are painted from aerial viewpoints, using models to achieve the correct composition. "artistic licence" is employed to create "ideal" views of the subject cities.
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