Greatly inspired by nature, Hunt Slonem (b. 1951, Maine, US) has been a prolific artist since the 1970s. His oil paintings and sculptural works depict the beauty and playfulness of animals, consisting of 3 main series: Bunnies, Birds and Butterflies. With expressive and bold strokes of viscous paint, he captures the essence of the animal with a few confident flicks of the brush, creating paintings that are reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism, yet with an optimism and skill in stylization that is uniquely his own. Merely depicting the subject is not enough for Hunt Slonem. Often, he makes the surface of the painting play a vital role in the final look of the work by hatching it with the end of his brush – or by covering it with real diamond dust, creating a sparkling and ever-changing surface. By choosing the frame for the work himself, he ensures that the final impression of the work is a part of his signature universe. Partially grown up in Hawaii, he is inspired by the profound spirituality of Hawaiian religion. An important notion of Hawaiian belief is that spirits reside not only in humans, but also in animals, inanimate objects and nature – the sky and the sea. Honoring the animal by painting it repeatedly on the surface of the canvas, he creates what he likens to the beads on a rosary or repeated mantras in visual form. Living with 60 birds in his lavish New York studio, he knows the animals he paints on a very personal level. Decorating interior spaces and reclaiming historical spaces for the present is another large part of Slonem’s practice – he has done seven historical interior decoration projects, integrating his style, color and works with the interiors of 19th and early 20th century homes. Hunt Slonem graduated with a degree in painting and art history from Tulane University in New Orleans, entered the New York art scene in the mid-1970s and had his first solo show at the Fischbach Gallery in 1977. Since then, he has won immense acclaim, and his work is now featured in top museum collections around the world, including the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Whitney, the Miro Foundation and the New Orleans Museum of Art. He has exhibited in numerous prestigious exhibition spaces around the world, including the Venice Biennale, Louisiana State Museum, Odessa Museum of Eastern and Western Art, DTR Modern in New York, The Art Museum Riga Bourse, The Mark Rothko Art Center and many more.