Hunt Slonem’s paintings transport us into his soaring world, shimmering, vibrating, fluttering and alive with extravagant color and naturalistic intensity. The viewer is transformed by these mysterious abstractions that pulsate with repetitions of butterflies, monkeys, and mostly birds, or mysterious portraits of animals that capture a silent purity on canvas.

A passionate animal lover who has lived with up to 250 birds, Hunt grew up in Hawaii and Nicaragua and describes his work and homes as,” the recreation of my experiences in nature as well as…reflections of my travels and the exotic mystic and mystical experiences I’ve had and continue to have.” While painting…every stroke of the brush is like a form of meditation. I say a mantra during the creation of each piece, and live by miracles”. He says that “miracles happen every day under our very noses, we just have to be open to receive them.”

Hunt Slonem is a NYC artworld celebrity who has a following among important collectors of Contemporary Art. Since 1977 he has had more than 350 exhibitions at galleries and museums internationally.  Globally, more than 100 museums include his work in their collections, among them the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

Hunt Slonem is the subject of an extensive monograph to be published in 2011 by Vendome Publishers, NY; text by Dominique Nahas. The in-depth 30-year survey, features more than 600 vibrant illustrations. “Pleasure Palaces: The Art & Homes of Hunt Slonem” with text by Vincent Katz, was published by PowerHouse Books in 2007. In 2002 Henry R. Abrams published “Hunt Slonem, An Art Rich & Strange” which features text by Donald Kuspit.  Slonem divides his time between Louisiana where he owns two plantation homes on the historic register, Albania in St. Mary’s Parish and Lakeside in Pointe Coupee; and New York City where he has lived and worked since 1973.

Hunt Slonem has received numerous awards including the prestigious “Stars of Design” award in art October 2009 in New York, the Greenshields Foundation award, the National Endowment for the Arts Grant.  He studied painting at Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine; Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN;  and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University of Louisiana.