Stewart Lees

“Your painting looks just like a photograph! It’s so often said to me. It is said as a compliment and I take it as such. It means I’ve achieved at least part of my aim. I do want to capture the appearance of my subjects. I do want a clarity and a precision to my work. Like a portrait painter I’m striving with every painting to capture the essence and beauty of my model, be that model a humble clove of garlic or a cracked and weathered clay pot. I am concerned with detail and surface but I’m also trying to say something deeper about my subjects. Something the monocular eye of a camera could never express.” Stewart Lees