Paul Snell
Australia
60 Works exhibited on Kooness
Current location
Launceston, Tasmania
Represented by
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Works by Paul Snell
Paul Snell combines traditional and digital techniques to explore the possibilities of abstraction and minimalism in contemporary photo-media.
He lives and works in Launceston, Tasmania.
Education
Snell earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts at University of Tasmania in 1989, his BFA (Honors) from University of Tasmania in 1995, and his Masters of Contemporary Arts from the University of Tasmania in 2011.
Technique
Snell creates small production runs, printing each unique work in an edition of one to three.
His process begins by capturing a location or an object on film with a traditional camera. He then digitally “decodes” the visual information present in that image. After reducing and simplifying the colors and forms, he begins an intensive “re-coding” process, during which the reduced formal elements of the work evolve their own self-referential relationships within a new composition.
This process blurs the boundary between “taking” and “making” a photograph. When the digital composition is complete, Snell converts it into a Chromogenic print using the Lambda printing system, which allows luminous, vibrant, colorful photographic printing onto metallic paper. The print is then mounted onto Plexiglass.
Inspiration
The visual lexicon Snell has developed is informed by the Modernist history of painting, especially minimalism and hard edged abstraction.
Snell has described his artistic practice as a search for “sensory understanding of the physical object.”
His images are abstract, yet also declare a certain concrete recognition of their own material substance. Snell intends to create visually arresting works that allow viewers to enter into a contemplative, or even transcendent state. He achieves this through the deployment of rhythmic, harmonious visual structures such as concentric circular or linear patterns.
Color relationships and spatial realities are also of primary importance to Snell. The iconic presence of his works is due in part to the dynamism of the color relationships, in part to the architectonic-yet-open nature of his compositions, and in part to the vibrant, luminous qualities of the surfaces.
Relevant Quotes
Describing his work Snell has said, “These pieces are not representations of certain realities; they are their own reality. The absence of signs or objects invites the viewer to drift among primal and tonal aesthetic matter. The aim has been to immerse the viewer in color, rhythm and space, creating a sensory experience of inner contemplation and transcendence.”
Exhibitions
Snell has exhibited his work extensively throughout Australia and Tasmania, and selectively in the United States
Collections
His work is included in numerous public and private collections, including that of ArtBank, the Devonport Regional Gallery, the Burnie Regional Gallery, and the Justin House Museum.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018
Vanishing Point - Gallery 9, Sydney, NSW
2017
Mute - Colville Gallery, Hobart, Tas
Chromophilia - Gallery 9, Sydney, NSW The
Liminal Space - Moonah Arts Centre, Hobart, Tas
2016
The Liminal Space - QVMAG, Launceston, Tas
Formal, Gallery 9 - Sydney, NSW
2015
Intersect, Colville Gallery - Hobart, Tas
Sectant - Gallery 9, NSW
Decoding Sydney - Gaffa, Sydney, NSW
2014
Shift - Colville Gallery Hobart, Tas
2013
Chromophobia - Colville Gallery, Hobart, Tas
Decoding New York - Edmund Pearce Gallery, Vic
Chromophobia - Rex Livingston Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Chromophobia - Jan Manton Gallery, Qld
2012
Afterimage -Devonport Regional Gallery, Tas
The Persistence of Vision - The Colour Factory, Melbourne, Vic
Codes and Convensions - Colville Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2011
Afterglow - 146 Artspace, Hobart, Tas
Selected Curated and Group Exhibitions
2018
Beyond The Field (Still) - Contemporary Art Tasmania, Tas
Colville gallery at West End Art Space, Vic
2017
SPEED: Mobility & Exchange – Academy Galley, Tas
There is no abstract art – Devenport Regional Gallery
2016
OP ART – Brenda May Gallery, NSW
2015
NEO-O-10 - Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Vic
Standback – Moonah Arts Centre, Tas
2014
AT_Salon_2, Anita Treverso Gallery, Vic
Perceptions of Space - Justin Collection, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Vic
The Art of Sound, Burnie Regional Gallery, Tas
2013
Balck Echo, Stephen Mclaughlan Gallery, Vic
Abstraction 12, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Vic
Factory 49 @ Stephen McLachlan Gallery, Stephen Mclaughlan Gallery, Vic
2012
NONOBJECTIVE_Present, 120 Langford Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
Art Fairs
2017
Den Fair, Vic
2014
Melbourne Art Fair, Vic
2013
Spectum Art Fair, New York, New York
Art Hamptons, International Art Fair, New York
2015
Winner, Whyalla Art Award, South Australia
Winner, Moreton Bay Art Award, Pine Rivers Gallery Brisbane
2012
Winner, Flanagan Art Prize, Ballarat,Vic
Winner, Tidal Art Prize, Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport