Billis Williams Gallery is pleased to present CHRISTOPHER STOTT: NEW PAINTINGS, the gallery’s seventh solo exhibition by the British Columbia-based painter. The exhibition features the artist’s recent object portraits and continues through March 23rd.
For twenty years, Stott has painted the same objects — typewriters, telephones, books, clocks — and over these past two decades, the intent behind the paintings remains as authentic as ever. The artist paints these vintage and antique objects in clear, precise, balanced compositions. In so doing, he creates a sense of calm, clarity, and understanding which is a counter to the pervasive and overwhelming confusion, outrage, and anxiety of the contemporary moment.
Using an indirect painting technique, building thin layers of paint to lend luminosity to the finished piece, Stott links his work to several centuries-old traditions of still-life painting. In addition, the objects he paints are all tangible, held in hand and have single-use purposes. They have a built-in narrative and have an almost universally understood story, whether nostalgic or melancholic. Stott’s work can be viewed on multiple levels. Viewers find delight in the subject, appreciation of the crisp compositions, and more profound insight into the historical significance and symbolism of the objects themselves.
The objects Stott paints are chosen for their beautiful designs but also for what they represent: books and typewriters are about story telling; clocks are about the passage of time; cameras are about capturing a moment; telephones are about communication. 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.
Christopher Stott (b. 1976) began a prolific and dedicated studio painting career in 2003 after graduating from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada with High Honours and a Distinguished Exhibition. Stott’s work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions and public galleries worldwide. He works from his in-home studio on Vancouver Island with his wife and two children.
