The V&A has teamed up with Make Architects to launch the Vault of Contemporary Art's (VCA) inaugural exhibition Perfect Spaces: Paintings by Ben Johnson. Transforming the museum’s John Madejski Garden into a digital gallery, to coincide with London Festival of Architecture, visitors will access the experience via a dedicated website and navigate twelve pavilions, each containing the stunningly detailed works of artist Ben Johnson. Featuring artworks, additional content, a virtual studio tour and video footage, audiences will be able to view Johnson’s process and works like never before. Created in meticulous detail, Johnson’s paintings are large-scale interpretations of iconic architecture, from the Crystal Palace to Neues Museum - paintings that are sometimes years in the making.
Christopher Turner, the curator and Head of Architecture and Digital at the V&A said: "Ben Johnson's meticulous, detailed paintings of buildings, which mix traditional modes of artistic production with digital technology, are the result of 50 years of deep engagement with architecture. The first time I saw one of his canvases, depicting the swimming pool at Norman Foster's Willis Building in Ipswich, full of glamour and geometry, I had to seek out its maker. The resulting studio visit, a history lesson in architecture, led to this virtual retrospective".