Longing for the bright colors

by Petar PLAMENOV

The Museum Gallery of Modern Art
Address:
Sofia, 10 Oborishte Str.
Working time: tue-sun 11:00-19:00
Phone: 02 943 40 00



The vibrant and colorful artwork of Hunt Slonem has a way of lighting up walls and making people smile in galleries worldwide. His works cover a wide range of subjects ranging from tropical birds to exotic animals to movie stars of Hollywood’s Silent Picture Era, such as Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson.
Paintings by Hunt Slonem have permanent addresses in various high profile art galleries, such as the Marlborough Gallery and the Stewart and Stewart gallery.

Hunt Slonem is a painter who paints abstract paintings with animal themes.Most of Hunt Slonem's work consists of animal forms in bright colors.Hunt Slonem works in oils, watercolors and sculpts in acrylic resin and wood. He often says: " I’m still terrified! What are you talking about? [laughing] No, I’m kidding. I always wanted to paint, I just didn’t realize that there was an ‘art world’ that was so ferocious. I had this fantasy about Picasso, that he just bought all these castles and filled them up and locked the door and then went on to the next fabulous chateau".


Hunt Slonem also owns an 89-room New York studio which has $300K annual rent. He also has southern manse which cost him $625,000 and another Kingston, NY house with $770,000.
Hunt Slonem paints lush, expressive works whose built-up surfaces reveal many layers of imagery and intense color. He scores his works by scratching grid-like patterns into the final application of paint, creating a visual screen through which depictions of faces, birds and butterflies can be viewed. Slonem has gained notoriety for his paintings which are exhibited internationally, with works belonging to many museums and collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Slonem lives in New York with his world-renown collection of exotic birds whose likenesses frequent his paintings. His most recent book, Hunt Slonem: Paintings was published by Abrams Press and was released in the Spring of 2002.


Most of Hunt Slonem's work consists of animal forms in bright colors.Hunt Slonem works in oils, watercolors and sculpts in acrylic resin and wood.
This famous American painter and world-renowned master of pop art, personally opened two exhibits in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. Slonem’s visit to Sofia has been anticipated by Bulgarian art-lovers for quite a while and has been in the works for several years now. It was finally realized on April 28 and 29 through the collaboration of the American Foundation for Bulgaria, and personally one of its founders and Executive Director, Teodor Vasilev, who accompanied Slonem to Sofia, the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, and the newly inaugurated (December, 2009) Sofia Museum Gallery of Modern Art.