Paul Snell
Australia
77 Works exhibited on Kooness
Current location
Launceston, Tasmania
Represented by
IdeelArt
, London -
GB
Categories
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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. 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 Fujiflex printing system, which allows luminous, vibrant, colorful photographic printing onto metallic paper. The print is then mounted onto Plexiglass. Paul Snell’s recent works lure the viewer into a meditation on image saturation. The title of this exhibition, Visceral, brings the body back into the equation – not just the eye and brain, but the gut. These new works have emerged instinctively out of the artist’s process, and consequently, they grab the viewer viscerally, harnessing the senses and luring them around the composition into voids and points of tension. 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
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