Press Release

NEW ORLEANS---Heriard-Cimino Gallery presents Body and Soul, paintings by New York/Louisiana artist Hunt Slonem. A reception to meet the artist will be held on Saturday, November 4, 2006 from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibition will be on view from November 4th through November 28th. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 5, or by appointment.

The Exhibition:

A new series of Billie Holiday paintings and new works of Slonem’s renowned birds and portraits are the focus of Body and Soul. This series traverses through territories of realism, spirituality and poetry, the natural and supernatural. Slonem has lived with a significant number of exotic birds in his New York loft and studio for more than twenty years. Since his days at Tulane University, Slonem has listened to the songs of Billie Holiday, and says of his birds and music, “these are my models and muses. They continue to keep me fueled, and they touch my soul.” His work environment speaks to him metaphorically. His lush bird and flower paintings of vivid colors is his expression of nature’s radiance and beauty. It has been noted that Slonem’s concerns do not seem to rest solely in realism, but are based on his own personal vision.

Donald Kuspit in his essay on Hunt Slonem writes, “Saint Francis preached to the birds and Hunt Slonem paints them. ....The bird’s flight is an ancient metaphor for the ascent to a higher consciousness than the one that ordinarily prevails on earth. Leonardo de Vinci is said to have purchased birds in the local markets... only to release them from their cages. It was a gesture of freedom that was implicitly personal. ....Birds are paradoxical creatures: obviously natural, but also, in imagination, subliminally supernatural.. ;” and Henry Geldzahler writes ..“after one has studied Slonem’s work for a time, there is a seriousness about the painting. The various devices that divide space, render it shallow, thus keeping the work coherent in its own terms, add up to a consistent investigation of post-cubist abstraction. By varying the moods and techniques of his work in fresh and exciting ways, Hunt Slonem creates beautiful work that continually gives joy and surprise.”

Hunt Slonem earned a B.A. degree in painting from Tulane University in 1973 and has since been recognized with more than one hundred exhibitions in New York, nationally and internationally. His paintings can be found in more than sixty museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Last year, Slonem established a residency in the countryside of Louisiana and continues to reside and work in New York City as well.