Hunt Slonem

Since 1973, Hunt Slonem has lived in New York City with his seventy exotic pet birds. The birds are his models. Slonem spends two hours a day caring for them; the rest of the day painting them. His fascination with exotica was imprinted during his childhood in Hawaii and as a foreign exchange student in Nicaragua. 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.

Hunt Slonem has soloed in over 150 exhibitions at prestigious galleries. His work is exhibited globally, including in Madras, Quito, Venice, Gustavia, San Juan, Guatemala City, Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid, Stockholm, Oslo, Cologne, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Over 50 museums internationally include his work in their collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. He won the 1991 National Endowment for the Arts Grant in Painting, and MacDowell Fellowships in 1986, 1984 and 1983. (Source: Guild.com website, Accessed August 19, 2004,