Now Available for Viewing: Chris Millar

We are delighted to announce that Chris Millar’s extraordinary new work, The Loom Beneath the Loam, is now available for viewing at the gallery.

For the past six years, Millar has devoted himself almost exclusively to the creation of three remarkably ambitious, large-scale kinetic sculptures, each extraordinarily complex and labour-intensive. All three works are now held in private collections; two in Montréal and one in Calgary.

The Loom Beneath the Loam marks Millar’s return to an intimate scale and is his first small-scale work in six years. At just 10″ × 9″ x 3″ (18.5″ x 18.5″ x 4″ framed), it possesses all of the astonishing detail, invention, humour and obsessive craftsmanship for which his work is known.

Part painting, part sculpture, and part fantastical narrative, the work contains eight miniature paintings, including a central portrait, two panoramic landscapes and two additional landscape scenes. These are among the smallest paintings Millar has ever produced. Each painting is incorporated into an elaborate sculptural frame populated by faux wood-carved portraits, strange botanical forms, suspended objects, and a miniature chrysalis pod that together contribute to the work’s richly imagined story.

Millar imagines a species of praying mantis artists who spin silk from which they create their sculptures. One miniature painting depicts an exhibition of their work while the figure in blue appears to be their art dealer. The elaborate hanging form at the lower right is itself one of the mantis artists’ sculptures.

This is Millar at his best: a meticulously constructed world in which painting, sculpture, storytelling, absurdity and an affectionate satire of the contemporary art world collide. The closer one looks, the more the work reveals.

The Loom Beneath the Loam is now on view at the gallery.

Inquire today.

Chris Millar lives and works in Delson, Quebec. He is known for extraordinarily detailed paintings and sculptures that combine meticulous craftsmanship with elaborate fictional worlds, dark humour and densely layered narratives. Moving freely between painting, sculpture, model-making and kinetic construction, Millar creates works in which seemingly minute details become essential parts of larger, often wildly imaginative stories. His work is held in important private and public collections in Canada and internationally.

Chris Millar
The Loom Beneath the Loam, 2026
Mixed-media painting/sculpture on painted wood
10″ × 9 “× 3″
18.5″ × 18.5” – framed
Signed and dated verso

Chris Millar
The Loom Beneath the Loam, 2026
Installation by Doug Williamson, TrépanierBaer Gallery