Arryn Snowball
Train ticket 2002
Collection: The artist
2003 Melville Haysom Scholar, Arryn Snowball
Arryn Snowball
March-July 2003
Arryn Snowball's 'Trace' series of abstract paintings on display in Starter Space was inspired by the marks left on train tickets after heat was applied to the tickets' thermal paper. Snowball was awarded the Gallery's prestigious Melville Haysom Scholarship for 2003.
The 'Trace' series includes atmospheric abstract paintings derived from details of heat marks left on receipts and bus tickets. These records of my interaction with the world are nondescript and banal. Most receipts are printed on thermal paper, which is heat reactive. Through applying heat in different ways, random marks appear on the paper. The tickets and receipts were then scanned onto computer, details selected, enlarged and painted.
In this work, magnification acts as a method of abstraction. Zooming in and enlarging fragments has a double and somewhat contradictory effect. It applies a level of scrutiny to the subject matter, but it also removes the detail from its context. While these paintings are representational in a sense, they are also very process driven. I am interested in composition, contrasts and subtle shifts in tone and colour, and the push and pull of paint.
Arryn Snowball
Artist statement
