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Keelbills

Artist Hunt Slonem (American, b. 1951)

Artist/Maker Hunt Slonem (American, b. 1951)

Date1998

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 60 x 70 in. (152.4 x 177.8 cm)

ClassificationsContemporary art

Credit LineGift of Shelby Willcox and Joel B. Cooper

Object number2002.26.17

Terms

Bird
Toucans
Abstract
Yellow
Red
Black
Green
Orange
Blue
Purple

On View

Not on view

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. Primarily yellow, it depicts fifty-one toucan birds with brightly-colored large beaks. Each bird's is seen from the side and has a beak that is variegating: the main colors of each are green, blue, orange, red and black. In the upper right corner some birds hold purple fruit in their beaks; toucans are fruit-eating birds. The birds are repeated to create an overall pattern design in this canvas. A single bird blends into a flock.

Label TextHunt Slonem American (b. 1951) Keelbills, 1998 Oil on canvas Gift of Shelby Willcox and Joel B. Cooper 2002.26.17 ~ Since the 1980s Hunt Slonem has painted exotic birds, a subject that is literally an extension of his everyday life. Indeed, Slonem has collected over 40 varieties of colorful exotic birds that occupy a vast aviary in his New York studio. As part of his daily routine he spends several hours each morning feeding and caring for them, and he collects their molted feathers for use in his gallery installations. He may also study a single bird, put it on his shoulder, and begin a painting in the studio. With a quick brush and thick, gestural application of paint, Slonem draws directly on the canvas here in vibrant oils, painting from subjective experience rather than directly from nature. "For Slonem, the spontaneous creative act - which is what every one of his paintings is - involves converting natural creatures into benign objects," notes critic Daniel Kuspit. In Keelbills, the repetition of this colorful bird creates an overall and mesmerizing decorative pattern.