Sam Snell (born 1999), is an artist living and working in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Snell attended the University of New Mexico for his undergraduate studies, and graduated summa cum laude in 2021. While working towards his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Snell took the opportunity to study abroad in Florence, Italy in the spring of 2020, where his lifetime love for Classical art was indulged. His work draws from romanticism, religion, and philosophy in order to create narrative paintings that relate internal experiences to natural environments. He is interested in the relationship between inner and outer worlds and the myriad realities that lie beyond grasp. He uses oil paint to create dramatic, mythologized scenes that juxtapose opposing forces, such as beauty and terror. While painting, be it in the studio or outdoors in nature, Snell typically starts with a colored ground/underpainting and builds layers of details on top. Methods of glazing, scratching, and dripping paint invite an intimacy with the surface of the work, and a curiosity for the ways attention fluctuates. Acid greens and deep blues that are reminiscent of far distances are dominating colors in his work. Outside of painting, Snell enjoys Broadway musicals, rock climbing, bike rides, Zumba, playing guitar, and spiritual podcasts.
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