LONDON.- This
autumn, to coincide with
the Sainsbury Wing exhibition Venice: Canaletto and his Rivals, the National
Gallery has invited contemporary artists Clive
Head and Ben Johnson to display their work in two consecutive
exhibitions in
Room 1. Both artists paint the city, but for very different reasons, and
with
very different outcomes. The displays will reveal their motivations and
working
processes – and their fascination with the legacy of Canaletto. In the
second of
these two displays, Ben Johnson will be completing one of his paintings
in
public.  Clive Head’s
paintings are about space. More specifically they are about creating a
credible
space for the mode of being in the city. Meticulously crafted, they show
all
that is seen as we move around our environment.