The Colour and the Shape of Dangeau, Part Deux
Justin Lees
31 July–17 August

The Colour and the Shape of Dangeau, Part Deux continues an evolving body of work shaped by time spent in the French countryside. Anchored in the atmosphere and quiet beauty of Château de Bouthonvilliers and the Dunois region, this series is a reflection on place, presence, and the subtlety of emotional and sensory experience.

During my time in France, I felt a growing need to strip things back — visually, emotionally, and materially. Immersed in a landscape defined by space, age, and quiet rhythm, I was drawn toward simplicity. The work became a meditation on restraint, leaning into the "less is more" philosophy to distill the essence of experience without embellishment. Colour, texture, and form were pared down to their most elemental states, allowing nuance, tension, and silence to take up space.

In this new suite, surface and structure are used to echo both the stillness and isolation I encountered, and the complexity that exists beneath calm exteriors. There is a quiet tension that runs through the work — a kind of held breath — reflecting my own internal processing of solitude and distance. The absence of clutter became a presence, and I sought to honour that by giving space to negative space.

Part Deux builds on the foundation laid by the earlier works made after my residency, but it moves further inward. It speaks to the transformative nature of time, the weight of memory, and the often-unspoken emotional traces left by place.