Billis/Williams Gallery is pleased to present CHRISTOPHER STOTT: NEW PAINTINGS 2026, the gallery’s eighth solo exhibition by the British Columbia-based painter. The exhibition features the artist’s recent object portraits and continues through March 21st.
A quarter of a century ago, Christopher Stott began painting a variety of vintage and antique objects using a contemporary still-life approach. These objects, including the likes of typewriters, telephones, books, and clocks, have always held a special place in his heart.
The charm of the world of things, the material culture of different eras, is a source of great inspiration for Stott. These are functional objects – objects with a job to do. And yet their shapes and forms, their designs and color, the way they are simultaneously straightforward and intricately complex makes them the most perfect subject to be explored in a painting.
Stott chooses these objects for their intriguing design but also for what they represent: books and typewriters are about storytelling; clocks are about the passage of time; cameras are about capturing a moment; telephones are about communication. These once all-important tools take on a symbolism of human creativity and ingenuity. Even the time on the clocks and the angle of light in the paintings is intentional. Stott is constructing his own stories in the paintings but he is also tapping into our memories, and in so doing creates a richly layered viewing experience connecting the past to the present.
Christopher Stott (b. 1976) a prolific and dedicated studio painting career in 2003 after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada with High Honors and a Distinguished Exhibition. Stott’s work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in commercial and public galleries worldwide. He lives and works from his in-home studio on Vancouver Island with his wife and two children.
