Interview: Hunt Slonem

Transcript:

1. Tell us about your journey to becoming a world-renowned neo-expressionist artist.

Persistence, painting every day, meeting people, staying committed to being in the art. And loving painting and persistence, I would guess, is the best answer to that.

Never giving up, never being able to do anything else, loving painting, having as many, you know, having shows a lot.

2. You are known for painting various species of exotic butterflies, tropical birds, and bunnies.  Why have you chosen these animals as the subjects of your work?

I have chosen what has struck me in the world from an early age, from earliest childhood. I have memories of Luna moths, and my grandfather sent me cocoons of great moths, and I'd come home from school and see a giant sucropium moth flying around in my room. So these were in my memory, and I've had experiences living and caring for all of them or viewing all of them.

And I'm especially blessed to have lived in Hawaii as a child, and in Nicaragua as an exchange student during my time in high school. So I was exposed to very exotic species, and they just excited me to no end. I just can't say how thrilled I am to see these living creatures and their shapes and color and forms endlessly inspiring. And that's what's happened in my life.

3. Another recurring theme of your work is portraiture, especially Abraham Lincoln, the first US President to enact environmental laws. What draws you to focus on him?

Well, I was very interested in Mary Todd Lincoln originally, who I was impressed with. She had channelers and psychics. They did séances at the White House when he was in office, and she was a shopaholic. And she redecorated the White House, which was in great disrepair when they entered. She said in one statement, in one movie I saw, they were giving her a lot of grief about her spending. And she said Sir, when I came to this house, there were mushrooms sprouting from the walls.

Anyway, she had very good taste and she did a great job. She was sort of like the first Jackie O. But very unappreciated in her day, because she was such a strong-willed woman. But it turns out Lincoln was the one that did all of this. He had no, or he belonged to, no organized religion. There's only two presidents that did not, and he went to mediums and people that predicted the future almost every day. As did a lot of Congress at that time. Which was kept kind of a national secret, so he was just, you know, a hugely important president. Probably one of the greatest we've ever had, and he did so many things to make the country a better place to live in.

You know, I'm impressed with him spiritually and as a person and as a president. And I pay tribute to him often. And he just keeps popping into my life's work and my life in ways. You know, I find pictures of him endlessly, and through a channel of mine, he told me to paint, which I'm painting right now, Doves, and I call them Abraham's Peace Plan. So that was a huge influence on me, a huge addition to my life and work.

4. You have also been an active participant in the Art in Embassies Program sponsored by the United States Department of State. Tell us about your involvement in this program and what it entails.

It entailed loaning work to American embassies for at least a year or two, and my work was taken to, like Latvia, where they did a wonderful show with all the artists, and there was a catalog printed. Later, I had a show with the Rothko Museum, which is in Latvia.That was where he was from, in the museum there. And I was in Malaysia, very interesting places. I can't remember all of them. Turkey had work of mine, I think they even acquired some. So it's a wonderful program, I'm all for it, and it was a very good and enriching experience.

5. You have exhibited your work extensively in museums around the world; Tell us more about this and why worldwide exposure of your work has been important to you.

I have had shows in museums in Kazakhstan and Siberia, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Haiti. Museum shows, that is, most recently Latvia and the Rococo Museum, and then Lithuania, and dozens of other places I can't remember. But I've always gotten a lot out of foreign travel And some of the museums in Ukraine, I had two National Gallery shows there, one in Odessa and one in Kyiv. And their collections were just extraordinary, and the buildings were old homes that were like palaces, and it was such a wonderful venue for my work. And there was a woman in the Ukraine who spoke so beautifully about my work, and St. Petersburg, they just exuded joy. They were joyous about seeing what I did. I don't always get that reaction here.

I've always loved to travel. I've had shows in India, Japan, and Montreal, Mexico, all over the place. And, I just love, since I was a child, we traveled a lot, and I always get a new thing from all of these experiences, and especially, colors come through for me, to experience. Anyway, it's just a wonderfully enriching thing, and I've always been curious about the rest of the world, and this has been a great way for me to do it.

@HuntSlonem
www.huntslonem.com

About Hunt Slonem

Recognized for his distinct neo-expressionist style, Slonem’s works can be found in the permanent collections of 250 museums around the world, including 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.