From one angle, the current showing of work by New York artist Hunt Slonem at the Seimandi & Leprieur Gallery might seem like an anomaly, in a space largely dedicated to artists from or connected to the Caribbean island nation of Martinique. One feasible connection relates to a certain E-word: exotic.
A sense of exoticism, of both the literal and stereotypical kind, can be conferred on the rarely seen (on the West Coast) and far-flung roster of artists shown in the gallery since its opening last fall. The E-word — and idea — is also baked into the essence of what Slonem’s art is all about, by his own admission, a self-constructed world of “Exotica.”
Slonem, whose compact short-run show here follows up a well-attended book signing and meet and greet in the gallery two weeks ago, brings his fine and kitschy artistic sensibilities to a highly personal visual vocabulary. In short, the man is obsessed with the imagery — and the idea and archetypes — of birds, butterflies and bunnies. Despite the highly stylized depiction of his menagerie of subjects, his interest translates to the real worldly resource itself, as the proud owner and keeper of a vast aviary of exotic birds, sometimes numbering up to 100 of them, at his N.Y.C. home.
Partly because of the accessibility and also the neo-Expressionist and post–pop art carbonation of his work, Slonem’s art can have an appeal reaching across the aisle of artistic and collector taste. That may account for some of the missing pieces in the long wall sporting his artworks at the gallery. Eager buyers want their prizes sooner than later, sometimes before a show’s closing.
In this group of pieces, Slonem presents us with the three B’s — bunnies, butterflies and birds — in quick sketch, childlike form, mixed and matched and looped into roughly pattern-istic echoes, an oblique nod to his old friend Andy Warhol. Backgrounds range from varied monochromatic colors to a dizzy striped texture and to a woozy patchwork of pastel colors, atop which a septet of jumbo-eared bunny icons stare us down.
In contrast to these mannered and emotionally detached projections of animal life as hip, decorative gestures, the Slonem wall also sports a smallish, semi-realistic “portrait” of one of his exotic birds. Bristling with vibrant color and sturdy, realistic form, the bird serves to proudly represent the natural world, in its more or less natural — if caged — state.
Slonem’s trademark vision as an artist serves as a kind of spritzer for the eye and mind, as art both less and more serious than it seems on impact.
Seimandi & Leprieur Gallery is located at 33 West Anapamu Street. Seeseimandileprieur.com.
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