Hunt Slonem (American, b.1951) is a renowned painter known for producing Representational imagery and combining Abstract Expressionism. Slonem was born in Kittery, York County, ME. He attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, in 1972, before moving to Tulane University of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA, where he graduated with a BA in 1973. Slonem likes to paint tropical birds, and most of these paintings are based on the same birds he keeps in his aviary. He has always had a fascination with birds, even when he was a child living in Hawaii, or during his brief stint as a foreign exchange student in Managua, Nicaragua.
Slonem also likes to fuse mysticism, animal subjects of Islam, and Mexico in his works. Examples of his works include Crested (2005), Amazons (2006), and Two Metals (2012). As a child, Slonem lived in different places including Connecticut, Hawaii, Washington, and Virginia. The experience he had with these different cultures influenced his art greatly. Slonem moved to New York, NY, in 1972, and started experimenting with Nicaraguan holy cards, using them as subjects in most of his works. After visiting India in the 1980s, his work evolved again, becoming even more complex.
Slonem is a gifted artist who has received numerous awards for his works, such as Rotary International Exchange Student, Managua, Nicaragua (1968), Cultural Council Foundation Arts Project, New York, NY (1978), and Stars of Design Award, New York, NY (2009). He has been involved in a number of exhibitions. Examples of his solo exhibitions include those held at Harold Reed Gallery, New York, NY, (1977), Arreesa Gallery, Bombay, India (1987), and DTR Modern, Palm Beach, FL (2010). The group exhibitions Slonem has participated in are numerous too, and they include those held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (1993), Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (1996), and National Gallery of Foreign Art, Sofia, Bulgaria (2009). Slonem is represented by the Marlborough Gallery. He lives and works in New York.
