CLARKSVILLE, TN — Currently residing within the brightly colored gallery walls of the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center are birds, and bunnies, and Abraham Lincoln, just to name a few. The Museum is featuring the paintings of internationally acclaimed artist Hunt Slonem through January 3rd in the exhibition Hunt Slonem: Both Sides of the Brush. Included in the show’s mostly large-scaled works are pieces from the Museum’s own collection, the Tennessee State Museum collection, as well as recent paintings from Slonem’s New York City studio. The paintings range from 1986 to the present, allowing the viewer a peek at the artist’s progression in both palette and style.
Inspired by nature and his 60 pet birds, Hunt Slonem is renowned for his distinct neo-expressionist style. He is best known for his series of bunnies, butterflies and tropical birds, as well as his large-scale sculptures and restorations of forgotten historic homes. The show title reflects the manner in which Slonem creates his work. He paints areas of his canvas, building layers side by side as well as one on top of the next. Working on each area swiftly, the artist allows the paint to dry just enough before adding cross-hatch textures with the opposite end of his paint brush. The textures achieved by Slonem’s trademark sgraffito technique capture light and further emphasize the ethereal nature the artist bestows upon his beloved subjects.
Since his first solo show at the Fischbach Gallery in 1977, Slonem’s work has been showcased internationally hundreds of times, most recently at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. More recently, he was featured by the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the National Gallery in Bulgaria, and in countless galleries across the United States, Germany, and Dubai. 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.
Along with paintings, the Museum displays a “Lincoln” wallpaper and “bunny” pillow, examples of Slonem’s foray into interior decor. Located at the corner of Second and Commerce Streets, the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center is one of the largest general interest museums in Tennessee. For more information on Hunt Slonem: Both Sides of the Brush, contact Terri Jordan, Exhibits Curator, at 931-648-5780 ext. 2038 or terri@customshousemuseum.org.