National Gallery uses live art to revive old masters

The view from the roof of the National Gallery over Trafalgar Square is one of the best known in London.

And downstairs in the gallery, artist Ben Johnson is at work creating a painting of the scene, live and in full view of the public.

After a meticulous process of plotting and drafting his cityscape, Johnson is now painting in many of the familiar details.

However, Johnson’s view is not quite as faithful to reality as it might seem. There are no people in the image, for example. The artist explains: “This isn’t a real city. This is no grime, no crime. This is a dream of a city, an illusion of a city.”

Johnson says painting in front of an enormous gives him “an enormous sense of concentration”, as well as helping him to break down the boundary between the painter and his public.

The live element of the exhibition follows on from a long tradition of artists such as Niki de Saint Phalle and Jackson Pollock, who also sometimes interacted with an audience as they created new works.

An inspired idea
Ben Johnson takes as his starting point the gallery's latest blockbuster exhibition on Canaletto's Venice, blogs Channel 4 News Culture Editor Matthew Cain.

And he creates his own cityscape of contemporary London (more specifically the view of Trafalgar Square from the roof of the gallery), using techniques not too dissimilar to those favoured by Canaletto nearly 300 years ago.

The result is that Canaletto's practice is brought to life before the eyes of the public and his work consequently seems much fresher and more exciting. It's such an inspired idea and the execution is quite brilliant.

Read more of Matthew Cain's blog: National Gallery sheds new light on old masters

Critics, such as Art Review‘s Oliver Basciano, say that in the case of Ben Johnson, an audience adds nothing to the work itself.

“Because Ben Johnson plans everything out, is very detailed, seeing him design his paintings is almost like seeing an architect draw out the plans of a building,” Basciano says.

It’s an opportunity to remind visitors that all of our paintings were once upon a time wet! Colin Wiggins, National Gallery curator

But Colin Wiggins, the National Gallery’s curator, disagrees. The problem with the gallery’s permanent collection, he explains, is that all of the artists are dead – “Therefore we can’t get any of the old guys in to manifest themselves”.

He believes using artists like Ben Johnson is “a great opportunity for us to actually remind visitors that all of the paintings that we have hanging on our walls here were once upon a time wet!”

And even if their presence does not contribute to the work, observing its hand-made nature is popular with the public. As the crowds look on, Ben Johnson has just two weeks to finish his painting.