About

Ethan Snow is a San Diego artist working in both Painting and Ceramics. He received his BA in Studio Arts from San Diego State University.

Statement

I seek to negotiate the elements of material and form through this non-representational work, with the aim harmoniously balancing the two, creating visually pleasing results. My materials are restricted to paper, ceramics, pigments, and light, and I seek to explore their potentialities at the most basic level. Without preconceived notions, I proceed with an openness to discovery, allowing my work to transform with new properties of and relationships between the materials revealing themselves. The attentive consideration of the formal elements of line, form, texture, and composition give shape to my work. The guiding principle in my compositions is the very possibility of beauty; the chance to create pleasure out of seemingly simple visual forms. The technical and intellectual challenge of mediating a successful interchange of both material and formal elements with visually pleasing results brings to light my aim to create art for the purest experience of art: the unfiltered moment in which the viewer is, perhaps inexplicably, satisfied and thrilled. This is what gives the work, as well as my practice, meaning.