Hunt Slonem

Sublimely decorative yet deeply spiritual, Hunt Slonem's work is filled with light and color, with exotic birds and animals, saints and Hollywood stars. His art celebrates the glory of life while underlining the threats that our civilization poses to the natural world.
Donald Kuspit, noted critic and art historian, examines all the myriad facets of this extraordinary artist, including the lush, sensuous environment he has created in his studio over-looking the Hudson River in New York City. The studio is a work of art in itself, filled with hundreds of live birds and with plants, baroque furnishings, and brilliantly hued rooms that house a dazzling array of paintings.
The generous size of the volume and its sensitive, innovative design convey the artist's energy and passion. An illustrated biographical outline, bibliography, and list of exhibitions provide further information. All the works are reproduced in full color in this first full-scale retrospective on the work of a major figure in contemporary art.

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Exotic birds and animals fill the giant canvases of Hunt Slonem (b. 1951), an artist whose brilliantly colorful paintings are imbued with a reverence for nature. While Slonem's work embraces a broad range of subjects -- from pre-Columbian ceremonial objects and butterflies to saints, go-go dancers, and Rudolph Valentino -- it is his bird paintings, based on his personal aviary, that have brought him the greatest acclaim. He -- and the dozens of tropical birds who share his vast Chelsea loft and serve as models for his most spectacular artworks -- has been the subject of many television and magazine portraits.

In the first monograph on this rising star, noted art critic Donald Kuspit is unstinting in his praise, placing Slonem in the company of the great artists of the ages.

Well-known art critic Kuspit (SUNY at Stony Brook; The Rebirth of Painting in the Late Twentieth Century) presents New York painter Slonem (b. 1951) in an opulent book that reflects the artist's own work. Slonem's numinous paintings reveal the world around him, which includes his vast collection of exotic birds, ocelots, and other wildlife, as well as celebrities, saints, and "higher beings." The bold choice of color and a working toward the spiritual create a strong radiance in the paintings, reproductions of which are large enough to allow the viewer to appreciate the brush strokes, work in situ, and more. Images of the artwork are interspersed with images of Slonem's New York living quarters, giving the reader insight into the daily visual stimulation and lighting that triggers his hand. A short biographical outline, list of exhibitions, selected bibliography, and index of plates are included after the plates themselves. The book is a visual feast, but it lacks Kuspit's usual exacting analysis and criticism, providing only approximately 15 pages of essay text. He chooses instead to let the artwork speak for itself. This first comprehensive retrospective on Slonem is recommended for larger public libraries and those specializing in contemporary art or art history. Nadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.