26th Sep, 2020 15:00
Ben Johnson
Royal Academy Fine Rooms
signed Ben Johnson (lower left); inscribed Study for Painting (proof) (lower right)
inkjet print
50 x 70 cm (19 3/4 x 27 1/2 in) - image size
I have studied and visited many Palladian buildings and produced over 15 paintings based on these investigations. Burlington has been a long-term fascinationand when the Fine Rooms at the RA were reopened around 2005 I was given access and permission to photograph the space. I spent many hours looking and working on studies for a possible painting, and this print is almost the final image for the painting. I put the missing mirrors back in the frames and extended the enfilade to include two extra rooms. Although very happy with this new view I never, as yet, made the painting. But Burlington and his work and his collaborations with other architects still fascinate me. For the first few months of 'lock down' Chiswick House became the place I visited every day.
Ben Johnson is prized for the forensic level of detail with which he examines and represents his subject matter, whether embarking on the vast cityscapes for which he is known, or considering the minutiae of the elements that comprise the different interiors that capture his (and our) imagination.
His work has been widely shown across the UK, and abroad. In 2008 he was lauded for his panoramic cityscape of Liverpool when it was the European City of Culture. In 2010 he completed the vista across Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall from the roof of the National Gallery, as part of his residency there. Also fascinated by the arts of the Islamic world, and the complex patterns of its architecture and interiors, he has completed an important series of large scale paintings of Jerusalem, and recently visited Iran to explore the rich variety of mosque decorations there.
His work has been exhibited in the Institute of Contemporary Art, London; the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; the National Gallery, London; the Art Institute, Chicago; Kunsthalle, Tübingen, and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. He has collaborated on many occasions with the architect Norman Foster, including at the Venice Biennales of 1991 and 2012. He was the subject of a retrospective of his work at the City Museum and Art Gallery, Southampton in 2015.
Donated by the artist.
Sold for £600
Includes Buyer's Premium
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