Hunt Slonem
Called a Neo-Expressionist, Hunt Slonem inserts realism into his Abstract Expressionism. He combines Abstract Expressionist techniques with mysticism and animal subjects of Islam and Mexico and is best known for his paintings of tropical birds, based on a personal aviary in which he keeps about 100 live birds of various species.
Born in Kittery Maine, he spent his childhood in various states including California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Virginia and Washington because his father was in the Navy. During college, he lived in Mexico and Nicaragua, and these cultures much influenced his art. He studied art at Vanderbilt and Tulane and spent a summer at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In 1972, he moved to New York and started using Nicaraguan holy cards as subject matter for paintings, and he has continued to do paintings of Saints. In the 1980s, after three trips to India, his work became more formal and complex in composition. He started using hatch marks in 1988. He builds patterns of repeat images of the bird subject and paints them in recognizable settings such as cages. He also paints the human figure, some of them based on photos of Valentino. His work came on the avant-garde art scene when he moved to New York. There he did some huge, panoramic murals including an 85-foot long frieze for the Bryant Park Grill. His focus is on the act of painting, and he does not strive to convey a narrative message. He paints quickly, and often his colors are jarring; he is fascinated by the manipulation of paint. He usually begins by filling in a canvas with one color, then blocks in other hues, adds the animals or figures, and then the hatched scratch marks.
[Click here to view Hunt Slonem on CBS News Sunday Morning]
[Click here to see a spread in Vogue Magazine that was shot in Hunt's Manhattan studio]
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Education
1973 Bachelor of Arts, Tulane University, New Orleans
1972 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
Selected Museum Collections
Art Museum of West Virginia, Roanoke, VA
Bergen Museum of Arts and Science, Paramus, NJ
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Bowdoin Museum of Art, Mrunswick, MA
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Colegio de Architecto, Quito, Ecuador
Colby Museum, Waterville, ME
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Danville Museum, Danville, VA
Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, IA
Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
Evansville Museum of Art, Evansville, IN
Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
Henie-Onstad Kuntsenter, Hovikodden, Norway
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Design of Kansas City Art Institute, Kansay City, MO
Le Musee d’Art Haitian, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manila, Phillipines
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Miro Foundation, Spain
Missippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MI
Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Pulitzer Collection, Amsterdam, Hollan
Queens Museum, Queens, NY
Colomon Guggenhein Museum, New York, NY
St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO
St. Mary’s College, Saint Mary, MD
St. Petersburg of Fine Art, St. Petersburg, FL
Sidney Museum, Port Orchard, WA
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, CT
Tennesse State Museum, Nashville, TN
Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
Wurth Museum, Kunzlesau, Germany
Selected Collections
Artbank Program, US Department of State, Washington, D.C.
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY
Continental Airlines
Goldman Sachs Co, NY
Hilton, Guam
Human Systems Technology, Baltimore, MD
IBM Corporation
Marriot Corporation
NY American Telephone and Telegraph
Nieman-Marcus, Dallas, TX
Paine Weber, Inc. Lincoln Harbour, NJ
Port Authority, One World Trade Center (Mural), New York, NY
Primavera Systems, Cynwyd, PA
Princess Cruise Lines
Readers Digest Inc., Pleasantville, NY
Sanco General Corporation
Silvestri Coprporation, Chicago, IL
Sonestra Corporation, Boston, MA
Tucker Anthony Inc., New York, NY
United States Despartment of State, Washington, D.C.
Zale Corporation, Dallas, TX