HUNT SLONEM: WHERE NATURE MEETS ART

Madelyn Jordon Fine Art is delighted to present WHERE NATURE MEETS ART, a solo exhibition of new paintings by HUNT SLONEM. The exhibition will run from September 26 – November 9, 2024. This is Slonem’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.

The exhibition will debut Hunt Slonem’s latest series of paintings featuring his iconic motifs – bunnies, flowers, butterflies, and birds. Slonem’s subjects continue to underscore his ardent commitment to environmental conservation and his admiration for the beauty of nature. Known for his vibrant, neo-expressionist style over an inspired 45-year career, Slonem’s flowers highlight his ability to develop fresh subjects while adhering to his characteristic painterly techniques.

As a child, Slonem was first drawn to the diverse aesthetics of the natural world while living in Hawaii with his family. As a teenager, Slonem studied abroad in Nicaragua before eventually enrolling at Tulane University. These formative experiences cultivated Slonem’s passion for tropical flora, fauna, and Louisiana’s indigenous wildlife, igniting a lifelong devotion to environmental and wildlife conservation. Slonem’s prolific oeuvre also reflects his deep spiritual relationship with nature, expressed through the repeated portrayal of his subjects. As stated by Slonem, “I decided repetition was not a dirty word. I talk about the connection to the divine when looking at nature. When I was in India, I would go on japa walks and look at nature— everything from the blades of grass to leaves on trees. And these things are completely dissimilar, yet they add up to something that’s recognizable and beautiful.” Like Slonem’s playful and sumptuous depictions of bunnies and butterflies, his lively floral compositions capture their abstract beauty, while his proclivity for repetition emphasizes the often-overlooked intricacies of his subjects.

Slonem’s artistic process is best demonstrated through the physical act of painting. The distinctive texture of his works is accomplished through the repeated drawing of thin horizontal and vertical lines, often using the back of a paintbrush, over thick layers of oil paint. Inspired by the bird cages in Slonem’s aviary in his New York studio, this cross-hatched pattern imbues his subjects with a sense of movement, drawing the viewer in to explore the complex details of his compositions up close. Slonem continues to work with an array of eye-catching mediums including diamond dust and a saturated palette of oil and acrylic paints, giving his works an animated and luminous quality. Slonem’s penchant for mantra-like repetition, his remarkable painterly techniques, and his experimental application of various mediums attest to the early influences of Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement on Slonem’s creative identity.

Hunt Slonem was born in Kittery, Maine in 1951. His father was a Navy officer, and due to his military career, Slonem spent much of his childhood on different military bases, living in Hawaii, Virginia, Louisiana, Connecticut, California, and Washington. After completing school, which included living in Nicaragua as an exchange student at 16, Slonem began his undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University. Slonem attended the prestigious 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.

Since 1977, Slonem has had over 250 solo exhibitions at prestigious galleries. Several Museums, both domestic and international, have collected his work, among them the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Miro Foundation, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.