CHristopher FAIRBAIRN

I make screen prints of objects that are usually thrown away: foil ashtrays, lottery tickets, fast-food wrappers. I’m interested in how these things are made and how they feel — the shine and creases of foil, the thinness of ticket paper, the heavy, bright inks used to grab attention.

Before printing, I spend time looking closely at their surfaces: the folds, stains, and wear that show how they’ve been handled. Screen printing lets me rebuild these details slowly, layer by layer, turning something temporary into something more fixed and considered.

By placing these disposable items in the gallery, I want viewers to look again at materials they normally ignore. The work isn’t about nostalgia or judgement. It’s about paying attention — to surface, to touch, and to the physical traces left behind in everyday objects.