The pause, the gap and the omission are increasingly significant in our saturated image driven society. Through this work the daily saturation is replaced by selective sensitisation, these pieces continue my exploration of non-representative forms and examines the possibilities of abstraction and minimalism in photo-media. The work investigates the transformation of photographic modes of production and the manipulation and exploitation of data to invent new visual forms. By rhythmically repeating, pairing, overlapping, reversing and sequencing through the investigations of specific colour relationships, I seek a sensory understanding of the physical object. These pieces are not representations of certain realities; they are their own reality.

Paul was born in 1968 and he lives and works in Launceston, Tas, Australia.

Biography
Snell’s practice employs digital techniques to explore abstraction and minimalism within photo-based media.
Assembled primarily with chromatic prints mounted on plexiglass, each work investigates the scope of photographic-based work by manipulating digital colour fields to develop new and experimental visual forms.
Each series explores the values of unique colour relationships through aspects of repetition, rhythm, amalgamation and sequence.
Snell is influenced by the modernist artists of the 20th Century, echoing the pursuit of representing the intrinsic elements of visual aesthetics through process of refinement and reduction.
Through flawless digital assemblage, Snell helps draw attention to the innate characteristics of modern fabricated materials, including qualities of precision and simplicity.
Compositions capture numerous dichotomies and questions that underpin contemporary photographic arts practice, drawing on tensions between digital and analogue design, mechanical and manual fabrication, as well as combining intangible concepts within a physical form.
In doing so, Snell produces contemplative and engaging works that simultaneously draw the viewer in as well as push them away, offering an endlessly evolving space of infinite optical possibilities, yet shielded by a flawless visual barrier or void, empty of human interaction or trace.
Snell has exhibited throughout Australia, as well as the United States and Europe.
His work is held in important private and public collections both nationally and internationally, including Art Bank, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Justin House Museum.
Snell has been a finalist in numerous art prizes including The Blake Prize (2011,2018), The Geelong Print Prize (2011), and The Glover Prize (2013,2018, 2019, 2021).
Snell has been chosen as the  to winner the following art prizes:  Tidal Art Prize (2012), The Flanagan (2012), Whyalla Art Prize (2015) and Morton Bay Art Award (2015).

Solo exhibitions
2022 Visceral – Studio Gallery, Armadale, Vic
2021 Longing for Less – Rosny Barn, Hobart, Tas
2021 Sub-Liminal – Riddoch Art Gallery, Mt Gambier, SA
2020 Incidental Contact – Australian Consulate-General, NY
2020 Bleed – Gallery 9, Sydney, NSW
2019 Untitled TZT038 – Bos Fine Art, Den Haag
2018 Timbre  – Colville Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2018 Vanishing Point – Gallery 9, Sydney, NSW
2017 Mute – Colville Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2017 Chromophilia – Gallery 9, Sydney, NSW
2017 The Liminal Space – Moonah Arts Centre, Hobart, Tas
2016 The Liminal Space – QVMAG, Launceston, Tas
2016 Formal – Gallery 9 – Sydney, NSW
2015 Intersect – Colville Gallery – Hobart, Tas
2015 Sectant – Gallery 9, NSW
2015 Decoding Sydney – Gaffa, Sydney, NSW
2014 Shift – Colville Gallery Hobart, Tas
2013 Chromophobia – Colville Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2013 Decoding New York – Edmund Pearce Gallery, Vic
2013 Chromophobia – Rex Livingston Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2013 Chromophobia – Jan Manton Gallery, Qld
2012 Afterimage -Devonport Regional Gallery, Tas
2012 The Persistence of Vision – The Colour Factory, Melbourne, Vic
2012 Codes and Conventions – Colville Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2011 Afterglow – 146 Artspace, Hobart, Tas

Art fairs
2021 Art Moments, Jakarta, Indonesia
2020 Sydney Contemporary (presents 2020, the year that was)
2020 Intersect Aspen, Aspen, USA
2017 Den Fair, Vic
2014 Melbourne Art Fair, Vic
2013 Spectrum Art Fair, New York, New York
2013 Art Hamptons, International Art Fair, New York