The Worlds of Hunt Slonem

American painter Hunt Slonem (b. 1951) uses artistic expression as a means to self and spiritual realization, argues independent art curator and critic Nahas in this splendidly produced and visually arresting retrospective of the painter’s 30-year career. Each of the seven thematically organized chapters opens with an elegantly composed essay by Nahas, the first providing a solid introduction to the artist’s biography and central motifs: the exotic, the uncanny, and a delight in the unfamiliar as a means to shifting visual perception. The following essays are revealing interpretations of Slonem’s larger oeuvre and aesthetic philosophy: how his meditative, sensuous, and often patterned portrayals of the natural world aim to connect the artist and viewer to the present moment; his imaginative use of bird and cage imagery as spiritual metaphors; his multifarious mystical, metaphorical, and technical uses of light. This superb catalogue reinforces the aesthetic and emotional range of Slonem’s paintings and is a captivating visual and textual record of his work. 600 color illus. (Nov.)