Exhibition preview: Ben Johnson, 'Spirit of Place: Paintings from 1969 to the Present'
Thursday 17 September 2015 / 6-8pm / RSVP: art.gallery@southampton.gov.uk or 023 8083 4536 / Pay bar / Exhibition runs from 18 September 2015 - 23 January 2016.
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.
We are also celebrating the opening of Air Water Stone in Gallery 8. The exhibition features the recent George and Ann Dannatt Gift to Southampton City Art Gallery, which includes paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints by key figures associated with the St Ives Group of Artists in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including Denis Mitchell, Terry Frost, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and John Wells.
