Christopher Stott is a Canadian painter living and working in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. For the past three years, Stott has been self-represented. In the “About the Artist” section of his site he makes a point about the dedication and work this entails.
Stott’s paintings could be considered either still lifes or interiors, usually focusing on objects like chairs, of which he has done a series, books, suitcases, and smaller objects like clocks or shoes.
At first I was tempted to describe his work as reserved, but I don’t think that’s quite right. I think that was a result of the initial impression I had of his paintings of chairs; which, in some odd way, feel like formal portraits.
On closer inspection, his work reveals a controlled but painterly approach, focusing on the play of light across and around the objects and the surfaces on which they rest. The result is a sort of contemplative quiet within which there is a drama in the patterns of light, and suggestion of the advance of time. The kind of oblique lighting in these views is always fleeting, and a viewer of the real scene would find the composition dramatically different within the space of an hour.
Stott’s color palette tends to be muted. The dark wood of his chairs, the warm grays and neutral cover colors of his stacks of books and the soft grays of his backgrounds all lend to the feeling of settled equanimity, making it clear that the patterns of light are the key players in the compositions. (Stott’s fascination with the way light falls across objects in rooms brings to mind the work of two painters I’ve featured previously, Neil Hollingsworth and Karen Hollinsgworth.)
Stott has recently started a blog on which he features recent paintings and talks a bit about the choice of subject and process.
He offers his available work through an eBay store, and, if you’re willing to put up with the usual horrendous eBay interface (you’d think a company with those resources would have a better one by now), you can see come of his work reproduced larger, though unfortunately watermarked.
Stott’s gallery section promises that more will be added soon, and I’m looking forward to seeing a broader range of his work.
Addendum: Stott has, in fact, added significantly to his gallery since I put up the original post. If you viewed it at that point, check back for a number of additional paintings, including many paintings of small objects, of which I particularly enjoy several that feature clocks.
