Interested in the ephemerality and uncertainty of perception, Nicholas Lees’ work explores perception. Visual experience of reality is understood as conditional upon relationships of light, space, and body. This body of work originates in an attempt to manifest qualities of shadows as representations of the hinterland between two and three dimensions, and between presence and absence, thereby creating a material penumbra. Lees focuses on an exploration of the vessel as an abstract form, considering the relationship between the space that is contained and the space that is occupied. These ideas are further informed by a lifetime of observing the same stretch of Scottish coastline, leading to the realization that the constant shifts of tide, weather, and light render perception inherently transient.
Lees’ aesthetic combines minimalism with complexity, and the origination of his ideas and works is rooted in thinking through material and process.
The ceramic works are made from Parian, a porcelain clay developed in Stoke-on-Trent in the 19th century to imitate marble. The pieces are thickly thrown on the wheel, then dried slowly and evenly before the fins are formed through lathe turning of the leather-hard clay prior to firing. This process draws on precedents ranging from the industrial production of electrical insulators to the use of throwing and lathe turning by Wedgwood since the 18th century. The introduction of colour is inspired by Lees’ works on paper with ink, in which the interaction between wet and dry serves as a parallel for movement and the uncertainty of perception. Colouring is achieved with soluble metal salts applied through a combination of saturation and evaporation, allowing the colour to travel through the form and concentrate at the edges.
Lees studied ceramics at Bristol before completing his MA at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. He later went on to undertake an MPhil at the Royal College of Art. He currently works from a studio in Selborne, Hampshire.