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We are proud to present Christopher Lees’ latest exhibition and cordially invite you and your guest to join us as we celebrate his show. Please contact us at the gallery with any enquiries or proceed to purchase online.
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ARTIST STATEMENT:
‘Habitat’ captures a connection between the landscape and transitory impressions within. Through an exaggeration of landform, and added elements of a fictitious nature, I strive to present an exotic and surreal fragment of time and space to the viewer.
With direct influence from my own observations of the Australian environment, I seek to amplify the enigma of natural creation through subtle abstractions and fabrications – raising the question of what is familiar and what may be possible.
September 17, 2022
BORN
11/10/69, Victoria Australia
STUDIES
Self Taught
BACKGROUND
Sign-painter / opal miner turned landscape painter breathes new life into the art market with his arresting landscapes. Christopher Lees reflects an authority in his brushstrokes which is evident in his monumental perspectives of the Australian terrain. In his twenties Lees travelled extensively throughout remote Australia, working as an opal miner and sign-writer. Now based in rural Victoria, his experiences of the outback (and his own bush property and surrounds) unravel on the canvas in panoramic and dioramic form.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“Freedom has always been important to me. When I was younger, if I didn’t like what I was doing, I would just walk away. I would get in the car, maybe even travel to another state, and simply trust that I would find other work. I feel privileged to be in this position – painting full-time and still having that freedom to travel for inspiration.”
He says that, as a self-taught artist, painting is more instinctual for him. “I know if a painting is working – practice also helps guide instinct… I would like my work to live on and I am conscious that people are buying works for investment.”
“I want to connect with the viewer by using colour and familiar motifs that are typically associated with the Australian environment. Exaggeration of space and elements create a theatrical representation of the landscape.”
PROCESS
Lees’s process is straightforward. He begins with a sketch which organises the painting, creating a sense of balance and proportion that is transposed onto the canvas, working to achieve a harmonious composition. The resultant landscapes are still, stark, and mysterious. Usually devoid of people and fauna, they echo the experience of the painter in the studio with only his creative muse for company.
“I exaggerate space and the elements of landscape which makes my work theatrical, but colour is the key…I want to ensure that people understand my work is concerned with the Australian landscape – I love those earthy colours.”
EXHIBITIONS
2023 “Nightcap”, Libby Edwards Galleries, South Yarra
2023 “Headspace”, Harvey Galleries, Sydney
2022 “Fragments” Libby Edwards South Yarra
2022 “Habitat” Harvey Galleries Sydney
2021 “Cloud trip” Libby Edwards Gallery Melbourne
2021 “Rock Candy” Harvey Galleries Sydney
2020 “Ancient Summer” Libby Edwards Gallery Melbourne
2019 “Un-discovery” Libby Edwards Gallery Melbourne
2019 “Transfigure”, Harvey Galleries, Sydney
2018 “Group Show” Margaret River Gallery WA
2018 “Terrain” Harvey Galleries Sydney
2017 “Group Show” Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne
2017 “Recent Landscapes” Harvey Galleries Sydney
2017 “Recent Landscapes” Redsea Gallery Brisbane
2016 “Recent Work” Harvey Galleries Sydney
2015 “Vision of Solus”, Redsea Gallery Brisbane
2014 “Recent Paintings” Libby Edwards Galleries
2014 “Exhibition WA”, Gadfly Gallery Perth 2013
2012 “Recent Paintings” Libby Edwards Galleries
2011 Libby Edwards Galleries Sydney
2011 “New Surrealist paintings” Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne
2010 “Recent Landscapes”, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne
2009 “Recent Landscapes”, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne
2008 “Recent Landscapes”, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne
2008 “Recent Landscapes”, Libby Edwards Galleries Brisbane
2007 “Coldsnap”, Libby Edwards Galleries Sydney
2007 Libby Edwards Galleries in Hong Kong
2006 Libby Edwards Galleries Sydney
2005 “Australian Landscapes”, Libby Edwards Galleries Melbourne
2004 “Recent Landscapes”, Libby Edwards Galleries Sydney
2002 Libby Edwards Galleries, Sydney
2001 Libby Edwards Galleries, Sydney
2001 Libby Edwards Galleries, South Yarra
2000 Libby Edwards Galleries, South Yarra
2000 Libby Edwards Galleries, South Yarra
1999 Libby Edwards Galleries, Portsea
1999 Libby Edwards Galleries, South Yarra
Painterly detail richly illuminates skies with delicate layers of graduated colour. Finger-painting adds immediacy to cliff faces and calligraphic brushwork delicately enhances tree branches. Lees admires Fred Williams’ abstractions in nature, and this influence appears in his reductionist tree forms.
Lees explains his intentions, “The Australian landscape is an enigma of nature’s imagination. I try to illustrate this concept in my paintings. In my canvasses no picturesque European gardens or manicured lawns are in evidence, but gnarly, craggy, primeval escarpments that plummet into the abyss. The landforms are not easily accessible, viewed only by floating on the deep black liquid with no floor, or birdlike, hovering over this strange land in a dreamlike trance. There are no sounds, no movement or signs of life, but fragments of familiar motifs such as boulders, trees and occasionally fence lines that suggest enigmatic past habitations.
I try to represent the Australian bush with emotions that can’t be written down. I want the viewer to feel alone, at peace, and privileged to behold this surreal landscape”.
Lees has built up a visual memory bank of composites from his travels, which he continually refers to and draws upon for his work. Secret streams of iron-coloured water for example, are bordered by iconic eucalypt and mountainsides littered with boulders, cliffs and crevasses – a scene not from one particular place, but a merging of various. Lees’ process is straightforward, beginning with a sketch which organises the painting, creating a sense of balance and proportion that is transposed onto the canvas. The resultant landscapes are still, stark, and mysterious. Lees strives to attain perfection in the way each subject is rendered and harmony in composition. Usually devoid of people and fauna, they echo the experience of the painter in the studio with only his creative muse for company.
“I like creating sheer cliff faces and the towering mountains. My paintings don’t depict one specific place. Instead I want to convey a feeling about the Australian landscape in totality.”
Demand for his work is now driven by overseas and local collectors. Lees is represented in corporate and private collections in Australia, Asia, Europe, the UK and the US.
Harvey Galleries was founded by the Harvey family in 1994 with an eye to establish a dynamic and inclusive contemporary art space on the North Shore of Sydney. For almost three decades we have expanded our reach to over three gallery locations and an ever expanding stable of the best artists Australia has to offer.
Harvey Galleries acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands upon which our galleries stand. The Guringai people (Seaforth), the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation (Melbourne).
We pay our respect to Elders past and present.
Password and the invitation to view will be sent to you as soon as the exhibition preview opens.
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