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Jungle Boogie
PMA hosts society artist Hunt Slonem’s work
New York-based artist Hunt Slonem is featured in top magazines like “Art in America”, “W Magzine”, “GQ”, “Vogue”, “Elle Décor” as well as many international magazines as often for his spectacular Manhattan loft and dinner parties as he is for his colorful art. The Pensacola Museum of Art will feature an exhibition of his work titled Hunt Slonem, Jungle Boogie that opens Friday, June 3 and will remain on display through Saturday, July 16.
 | | Hunt Slonem, Finches, Oil on Paper, 2004 |
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Slonem’s current work focuses on animals, but not just any animals, exotic animals. With bright shapes and bold colors, the artist captures images of butterflies, monkeys, and all types of various jungle animals. His works range from large, oversize canvases filled with energy and complex patterns to small canvases filled with often repeating images laced with color and texture.
Another favorite subject of Slonem’s is his birds. All 60 of them. In his artist’s biography his relationship to his birds is described: “The birds evolved from Slonem’s early paintings of saints as well as inspiration from the pioneers of bird imagery in painting, including Fabritsius, Heade and Audubon. Audubon shot one hundred birds for each painting. Slonem is instead a slave to his birds. He spends the first two hours a day caring for them; the rest of the day painting them.” Former art historian and curator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art the late Henry Geldzahler commented in a 1993 essay, “The visual field of Hunt Slonem’s paintings is a continuum accented by ovals of varying shape and colors that it turns out are birds.” The exhibition at the PMA will have r e p r e s e n t a t i v e works from both subjects, his birds and exotic animals.
As mentioned before, Slonem is also known for his his legendary 10,000 sq ft. loft with a 30,000 sq ft. rooftop terrace, an absolute anomaly in New York City, which houses his own works as well as large aviaries for his birds along with space for his collections.
Descriptions of his loft tell of “a windowed studio overflows with ferns and orchids on stands, turtles and fish in artificial pools, and half a dozen Javanese rice birds,” and “we sat down in the studio next to at least 40 large trees and flowering plants and a long table filled with half-burnt candles.” Writers often go on to talk about the menagerie of animals that walk, waddle, and fly throughout the loft. A constant on the New York art and social scene, Slonem has work in the collections of museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Art as well as in a multitude of private collections and is currently represented by the Marlborough Gallery.
Hunt Slonem, Jungle Boogie will be on display June 3 July 16 at the PMA. The Museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. 5 p.m. and Saturday Sunday 12 p.m. 5 p.m. The cost is $5 for adults and $2 for students and active military. For more information, please call the PMA at 850-432-6247 or visit www.pensacolamuseumofart.
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