John Lees

About

The exhibition is comprised of 20 paintings (the largest of which, Ghost Trio, is 20 x 20 inches) and 6 drawings, all recently completed. Characteristically, Lees spends years working and reworking his paintings and drawings, often leaving a written diary on the front or back of the work as a physical reminder of the time spent. In these recent paintings and drawings, Lees sands down the surface, incorporates brighter color and introduces a more complex narrative into his work. He no longer concentrates on a single image: a person, a hill, a stream or his childhood home. In Trio, there are three figures all in different states of (un)dress, one in the shower, one wrapped in a towel and the other fully dressed.  Similarly, in Lunar Chorine – a subject repeated in several works – there is a conversation going on between the figures: a female figure in a dancing costume dominates, while a large man hides in the shadows. The players are anonymous and the narratives ambiguous, but, characteristic to Lees, all are drawn from an experience buried deep in his subconscious.