Ben Johnson at work. © National Museums Liverpool

Preview - Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series, opens at the [Walker Art Gallery, LiverpoolNW000101] on May 24 2008.

It has involved 3,000 preparatory photographs covering 170,000 hectares and more than 1,000 buildings, using 23,000 stencils, and taken an estimated 24,000 man hours, combined, so far.

On reading such statistics you’d be forgiven for thinking you were looking at a project update for one of the many architectural development sites currently springing up across Liverpool. In fact, these mindboggling figures relate to the commission National Museums Liverpool has asked of internationally renowned artist Ben Johnson and his dedicated team.

Taking three years to reach its current state, Johnson and his assistants have tirelessly and meticulously constructed a Liverpool of their own on the huge 2.4m by 5m canvas. ‘The Liverpool Cityscape’ will be the largest and most complex Cityscape the artist has ever undertaken and has been commissioned to celebrate the city’s Capital of Culture status for 2008.

As part of a diverse programme of events the city has lined up for this year, both National Museums Liverpool and the artist hope the painting will bring the city’s people together to commemorate its past and celebrate its hopes for the future.

It is a mammoth task and one which is still ongoing as the artist and his team move their entire London studio into residency at the Walker Art Gallery until March 7. This residency will be tracked by a continually updated website and live webcam on www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk, which has been set up to reach a wider audience adding further to the inclusive ethos of the project.

During the residency members of the public can come and see the monumental work being finished and hear the artist give talks, before it goes on display with Johnson’s other Cityscapes in Ben Johnson’s Liverpool Cityscape 2008 and the World Panorama Series, which opens at the gallery on May 24 2008.

© National Museums Liverpool

The exhibition will showcase the Liverpool Cityscape, bringing the Capital of Culture 2008 in line with the most influential cities of the world, as it is shown together for the first time with his other Cityscapes which include Hong Kong and Jerusalem.

The painting is created using complex stages of precise artistic and technical engineering which the public will be able to witness, as one by one Ben’s assistants lend their expertise before he can finally spray on each section of the detailed piece which is painstakingly built up in layers for a more accurate portrayal of the architecture in the city.

To look at the painting it seems a photographically faithful and structurally exact depiction of the city, with clear lines and a cold even light which basks all buildings equally; from the terraced houses on the outer edge of the city to the World Heritage Buildings at the city’s Albert Docks. Even buildings which have not yet been constructed are included due to the artist’s many consultations with the architects of the city. This is not however merely a commemorative pristine image of the city in an idealised state.

On further examination you begin to notice that there is something not quite right with the image; there are no people and no cars or traffic, in fact the city is completely deserted. And if you know the city really well, and you follow the roads through the city remembering the times you spent there, you will notice that even some of these buildings, so carefully constructed, aren’t true to life.

The Chinese Arch will be raised so that it is visible from the River Mersey where the painting begins and several other buildings have been turned so their best vantage is possible. Indeed although geographically impossible from the angle the painting has been created, both Goodison Park and Anfield Football Stadium stand within sight of the viewer.

The landscape's eerie detail is as great in the trees as it is in the landmark buildings and its empty streets act as an open canvas, an empty shell which invites viewers to remember their stories and discuss their city. The absence of its people highlights the one important fact; that a city is a city because of its people, and it is they who make the Capital of Culture what it is and what it will become.