With the year-end best lists of 2024 still fresh in our minds, the contemporary art world is already looking ahead to what’s next. Which artists had a breakout year, and who will continue the momentum in 2025? Which rising stars should art collectors, curators and patrons keep an eye on this year? Which trends and movements will capture the popular imagination, and which will recede into the background? In the excitement of emerging talent, it’s easy to get caught up in the relentless churning of the market. But as we enter a new cycle of gallery openings, lively installations, and compelling articles, let’s take a moment to celebrate those who have long defined the American cultural landscape. One person worthy of flowers is Hunt Slonem, a mysterious outsider in the art world.
Slonem’s career began in 1970s New York, where he met icons such as Andy Warhol and hobnobbed with socialites, artists and drifters. From the beginning, his work has been marked by a fascination with the natural world. Slonem is known for his vibrant neo-expressionist style, and his paintings often feature a few iconic motifs: rabbits, birds and butterflies. The images fill the walls of his Manhattan studio, a wild space filled with his beloved pet birds and an extensive collection of antiques, including a marble bust of Marie Antoinette and vintage top hats.
While researching this piece, I repeatedly encountered the word “exotica” to refer to Slonem’s unique style. Many writers have mentioned his time as an exchange student in Nicaragua and his childhood in Hawaii, Mexico, and California, suggesting that these experiences left an indelible mark on him. Tropical themes and vibrant color schemes became hallmarks of his early work, themes that have remained with him for nearly 50 years. But I can’t help but wonder: Was it just the exotic beauty of faraway places that sparked his artistic project? Or are there deeper factors at work?
I reached Mr. Slonem by phone just before Christmas. I asked him what inspired him—what kept him painting. I expected him to tell a story about a trip to Tahiti or a stunning sunset in his youth, but his response surprised me. “I think the root of my work is spirituality,” he said. “I don’t think–I Know it. That’s what it’s really about. I could feel the energy filling the phone as we discussed his deep and long-standing interest in metaphysics.
His work is often described as whimsical or childish, and I’d love to discuss these labels. I wanted to understand how he interpreted the concept of “childlikeness” in relation to his art. “It’s a natural state,” he told me. “It has not been corrupted by the less than innocent forces of the world; you know, it is the maintenance of a spiritual and original essence that has not been painted. Slonem’s paintings are rendered in bold, vivid colors and use a unique The cross-hatching technique transcends simple categorization, shifting fluidly between abstraction and figuration. Like Warhol, Slonem often made series that repeated familiar ideas and images. However, when Warhol questioned advertising. and commercialism, Slonem’s focus is on the act of painting itself. His thick brushstrokes and textured canvases invite the viewer to consider the subject matter and creative process.
I was particularly interested in his process and workflow, and asked if 2024 brought any new approaches or stylistic innovations. He paused for a moment before answering. “I can’t really tell you anything about new methods — they just happen,” he said. “The way things develop in my work is completely spontaneous. I have to prepare myself by deciding what to draw each day, but any major changes just happen out of thin air.
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A prime example of a major change in the realm of metaphysics is his signature cross-hatching technique, born purely by accident. One year, early in his career, Slonem found himself suffering from severe pneumonia and unable to use oil paints. He turned to watercolors and, as an experiment, sharpened the back of his brush and began making marks on the canvas. Looking at the birdcage in the studio, he simply wanted to express what he saw: the grid and lines of the studio space. That serendipitous moment gave birth to one of his now best-known stylistic traits. I wondered whether a painter who worked in such a spontaneous manner would often stop and start a new one, and asked Slonem whether he would abandon a work in progress. He explains that time and psychological distance may be an artist’s most important tools: “I don’t really understand what I’m doing until it dries and matures. And, you know, a lot of the things I meant to destroy ended up looking It feels like the best thing I’ve ever done.
Even his signature themes derive largely from the chaos of the creative process. Slonem, who was deeply interested in mysticism and metaphysics, told me about an early painting from the 16th and 17th centuries of the Peruvian saint Martín de Porres, who was said to have painted his face every night for many years. will be suspended on top of a 22-foot-tall cross. (De Porres was not canonized until the 1960s, when he became the patron saint of mixed-race peoples, racial harmony, and animals.) Slonem explains how he painted de Porres, surrounded by wild animals group. In the 1970s, there was not a big market for this kind of religious art, so he ditched the saints but kept the animals—setting the tone for the next 50 years of his career. But in metaphysics nothing is truly abandoned work Hunter Slonem. After all this time, the saints are marching again, and these overtly mystical subjects that were once cast aside are making a triumphant return, with a solo exhibition of religious and mystical paintings scheduled for the spring at K Contemporary in Denver. “The revival of the Saints is what I focus on,” he said.
Last year was one of milestones for Slonem as he carved out his own sacred space. He fulfilled a long-held dream with the unveiling of “Huntopia” at the San Antonio Botanical Garden—an ambitious exhibition of large-scale sculptures made from thousands of hand-cut pieces of glass. Featuring his signature animal forms, “Huntopia” brings Slonem’s beloved themes into the real world, expanding his artistic vision and offering viewers a new way to experience the sacredness of nature. In addition to Hentopia, Slonem has found time to continue restoring landmark residential projects in New York, Massachusetts, and Louisiana—properties he has acquired over the years that have become spaces he has designed and curated. The houses will become his legacy, he said, and he hopes to eventually open them as museums to allow visitors to experience the full extent of his mysterious artistic vision.
I asked Mr. Slonham how he viewed his place in the art world. “Well,” he told me, “I never really thought about where I belonged.” Perhaps that was one of the keys to his success. He is not focused on glory or competition. He just had to mount the canvas and get to work. Slonem’s work is a project of contradictions—a combination of profound intentionality and freedom of improvisation—but it has resonated widely, and his work is included in the collections of more than eighty museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum, as well as the collections of celebrity art collectors such as Jimmy Fallon, Sharon Stone and Cameron Diaz, among others.
No matter what others thought of his style or his place in the art world, Mr. Slonem simply kept doing what he had always done: painting. And he shows no sign of giving up. A series of global exhibitions are planned for 2025 in locations as diverse as Palm Beach, Feldberg Street in Germany and Turkey to cement his status as one of the most important contemporary artists in the United States. “Huntopia” will travel to other venues, and his restoration projects will once again require a lot of his time and energy. There are rumors that a movie is in the works and a large format art book is about to be released.
When I talk about how busy and exciting it all sounds, he says: “I haven’t had a dull year yet. Early on, I had a hard time getting anything going, but that never stopped me from believing.
