Growing up around racehorses, with his late father a trainer, his brother continuing the family tradition, and his own years spent working as a stable hand, Lees has an intimate understanding of the discipline, rhythm and ritual that sit behind the sport.
Created in response to being back in his family home alongside Newcastle Racecourse, Spring Carnival draws on this personal history and the visual language of racing. Research images and visual references gathered during time in London and France also find their way into the work, informing the colour, texture and abstract gestures across the series.
Rather than depicting racing literally, the paintings distil its atmosphere. The anticipation, movement, tension and moments of stillness that surround it.
Spring Carnival is an exploration of memory, place and heritage, and the enduring pull of the racing world.
