Hunt Slonem (b.1951 -)
Hornbills, 1989
Oil on canvas
66.25 x 88.25 inches
Framed Dimensions: 68.50h x 90.50w x 2.75d inches
Framed in a gold floating frame.
Hunt Slonem's paintings are at once vibrant, energetic and colorful, yet also deeply spiritual and contemplative. The artist creates exotic forms with expressive and highly textural brushstrokes that are full of intense color, loosely inspired by artists of the German Expressionism movement.
As a child, Slonem first felt a connection to birds. The fascination continued into adulthood; not only does he admire the colorful animals from afar, but he also collects the exotic birds. Slonem utilizes the intense colors of the neo-expressional style that mirrors the interesting worlds in which these animals exist. He describes his work with one word, “Exotica.”
Slonem creates beautiful, surprising scenes that offer a calming joy to those who encounter it. From the very beginning, animals and the natural world, most notably birds, have been the central focus of his work. For Slonem, birds signify divinity and transcendence in their ability to leave the realm of earth and its constraints through flight. He sees the ability of birds to fly - to achieve atmospheric height - as a direct metaphor for transcendence from an earthly to a spiritual realm.