Spirit of Place

Ben Johnson is one of the finest painters of structure and light of our time. He relates to an artistic tradition that dates back to the Renaissance and the work of artists such as Piero della Francesca and Vermeer also drawing inspiration from Kandinsky, Tatlin and the Bauhaus. Celebrated especially for his epic and minutely detailed cityscapes, Johnson has recently become interested in exploring the potential for architectural space to evoke the past.

His paintings, prints and drawings are held in public collections throughout the UK including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum and Tate and in many museums worldwide. However most of his output has been commissioned for private collections and so has rarely been seen in UK public galleries. This is the artist’s first ever retrospective exhibition to examine his extraordinary career spanning 54 years and a rare opportunity to see many of his works together.

Image detail: Ben Johnson, Glazed Arcade Revisited, 1984

Ben Johnson Artist – A Retrospective from Ben Johnson on Vimeo.

Above: Ben Johnson putting the finishing touches to ‘Room of the Revolutionary’, 2014.