Christopher Stott is a contemporary realist painter.
There’s a great feature article on the June 2013 issue of American Art Collector Magazine. Just around the corner now, only a few days for my fourth consecutive show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery. Check it out.
I’m still working away for my June show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery. Here are a few more images of what I’m working on. I’ll share color photos later in May, closer to when the paintings are hanging in the gallery. But I still have work to do before then. Happy spring!
I’ve been busy for the last several weeks working toward my next exhibition, at the Elliott Fouts Gallery, in June. Over the years I’ve documented my progress in the studio in black and white photography.
At one point in my life, I spent a tremendous amount of time in a traditional wet dark room, with an enlarger and rolls and rolls of black and white film. I love the aesthetic of a black and white image. I think they tell a story in a different way, unlike colour images.
I’m deep in the details of painting and love and appreciate every minute I get to do it. Over the coming weeks, you can expect more progress images.
If you’re viewing this on a computer browser, check out these images of B&W photos from the past few years.
A painting that I did a few years ago is being used for the cover of a new book published in the Netherlands. The book is an anthology of poetry from Anna Enquist.
A while back I also I had some images used by an Italian book publisher. It’s an honour having the images used. I just wish I was able to read the books as they’re never in English.
Also, it’s been a long while since I have published anything on this blog. I settled in for my long winter painting session. Soon I’ll share some progress images of what I’ve been up to.
For years now, I’ve been asked several times if I’m showing my work in Los Angeles. Finally, I’m excited to announce my first solo exhibition at the George Billis Gallery LA, in Culver City (you can find the gallery here).
My next solo exhibition is at the George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles. I’ve been working through the summer and fall on twelve paintings for the show. Nothing is more satisfying than reaching the end of the final piece.
Here are some in-progress images of a few of the pieces I’ll have in the show. More details as we get closer to the opening of the show, which starts on November 17 and runs through January 5, 2013.
Vikki Cruz, the curator at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, and her assistant Claire Putney share some thoughts on the Fall 2012 exhibitions.
The Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento, California, is hosting an invitational group exhibition featuring eleven artists, including myself.
The show runs from October 6 – November 1, 2012 and features paintings of contemporary still life. I have six paintings in the exhibition.
Click on any image for more information.
It is an honor and a privilege to announce my solo exhibition, New Realism, at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, on display from September 13 – November 25, 2012.
The show features fourteen of my book themed paintings, a subject I have worked with for the past several years.
I have slowly refined the way I use books in my paintings. What were once simple props, I started paying closer attention to the actual books. Vintage primary readers are particularly interesting. With overtly optimistic and naive titles, they are a great example of the way our culture idealizes our recent history. Contrasted with early phsycoanalytical books or heavy psychology and ethics texts from the early 20th century and you have an interesting juxtaposition.
At the same time, the simple rectangular shapes, the colors and textures of the spines and pages make for endless possibilities for me as a painter to explore. The organized and tidy stack of vintage and antique books have small details in torn edges, fraying covers, dented spines, discolored pages. A jumbled pile of books, a line of books precariously leaning on one another. All set on softly lit neutral grounds and a clean white shelf.
I like the universality that books as objects present. They are symbolic. They are our combined and collected knowledge printed for posterity, all on decaying paper. We fret over losing the art of reading, the genuine experience and pleasure of a book as we invent and perfect new ways to consume the written word. iPads, Kindles, smartphones — ebooks, they are becoming commonplace and cheaper by the day. I think that as long as someone is writing something worth reading, it doesn’t really matter how you take it in.
And as long as second-hand book stores and antique shops have multitudes of books to offer, I doubt I’ll ever run out of ideas that I can transform in to paintings.
I had the opportunity to share my working process, ideas and inspiration with American Arts Quarterly magazine, who reviewed my June 2012 exhibition at the Elliott Fouts Gallery.
I think it is a good review, and provides a clear understanding of my work.
You can read the review here.