Hunt Slonem is constantly on the move. A prolific artist, the septuagenarian is always working, has tons of projects going on, and continues to find creative wonder in nature. One of the most iconic contemporary painters of our time, Slonem’s signature bunny artworks are seriously sought-after pieces in the art world. His colorfully featured butterflies, tulips, and birds radiate an exuberant joy that the art public has found infectious.
Newport, RI, is very lucky to get not one, but two of his shows due to popular demand. Both are presented by Jessica Hagen, with a breadth of new works on display at her fine art gallery through July 27. The artist’s beloved bunnies are also on display in the Sarah Langley Gallery at the Hammetts Hotel, where you can immerse yourself in the delightful world of these whimsical creatures, each alive with charming personality. That show will stay up through August 31, 2025.
Even better, Hunt Slonem will be here on Saturday for the opening reception of his show, “Field of Dreams,” at Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design gallery on Saturday, June 28. I spoke with him about his relentless work ethic, spirituality and the many creative projects he has in the hopper.
Slonem’s works encompass a lush and layered immersion of pattern, color and wonder, and his show at Jessica Hagen’s gallery is no exception. He’s brought his expansive vision of the natural world as only he sees it: vibrant paintings of birds, butterflies, flowers and of course his legendary bunnies, all rendered in dazzling color and his trademark patterns.
“I’ve done a few paintings of foxes and bears and coyotes, things that surround my houses,” added Slonem.
His playful rabbits have their own treatment at the Hammetts Hotel, a dedicated celebration of Slonem’s most famous and whimsical motif. At Hammetts, the exhibit of playful rabbits—which has a rabid following here in Newport—will be available to view seven days a week in the hotel’s gallery space. It’s a wonderful opportunity to plunge into the charming world of these bunnies, each one being captured in a burst of quick, expressive strokes by Slonem’s artistic expression.
“I had them as a child,” he said about growing up with bunnies.
The nature-loving artist has produced thousands of paintings, murals, sculptures and interior designs. I asked him how he keeps up his maddening pace.
“It’s like meditation for me. It’s in my blood. I’ve always done it, and I love to do it, and I can’t imagine not keeping the pace that I do.”
For Slonem, his art offers a spiritual release. The multifaceted artist converted to Catholicism a few years ago and attends Mass every day during the week at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, where he lives and maintains a studio.
“I go to St Patrick’s every day at 5:30.”
Slonem reverently talked about painting the Venerable Pierre Toussaint for St. Patrick’s, with his donated work being on permanent display at the cathedral. It was unveiled at a Sunday morning mass and blessed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
“I was asked to do something for the Prison Project, which I gave furniture and paintings to.
“The prison projects in Harlem—they have an old convent—they get people out of Prison and put them into colleges and teach them, and it’s wonderful. They’re surrounded by my work and my furniture,” he said proudly.
Even before his conversion, Slonem says that saints and spirituality have always been a cornerstone of his works.
“I think there’s spiritual elements in everything I do.”
“So I’ve been painting religious paintings, both Eastern and Western at one point, because I followed a lot of gurus and avatars, but I did huge amounts of Christian saint paintings in the 70s.
“My work came out of those paintings. My rabbits were first in the same paintings I did of St. Martin de Porres [1983] and singling out subject matters from the same paintings.”
Over the decades, Slonem has painted countless birds, big cats, butterflies and more recently, flowering plants such as tulips (my personal favorite). He famously maintained a large menagerie of tropical birds in his Manhattan studio, he’s since re-homed several of them and at this time keeps a smaller collection.
“I found a wonderful sanctuary for the ones that I didn’t keep and I have 10 birds now.”
Born in Kittery, Maine, Slonem began his painting career in the 1970’s, when he moved to Manhattan.
“Well, it was very vital time,” he said about the artistic scene in New York then. “I think it’s just overwhelming today, and it’s all about money.
“As a place for artists it was very interesting, it was very edgy. People lived and died quickly, AIDS, it was rough going, but it was interesting.”
Slonem’s father was a Navy officer, which led them to moving a few places when he was a kid, including Hawaii. It was his grandfather—an amateur artist—who encouraged Slonem’s talent.
“My grandfather painted as a hobby, and he sent us paintings. And, you know, his fascination with painters was endless, and he loved Van Gogh and Gauguin, and he owned a lot of minor artists, work that later influenced me,” Slonem said about his early inspirations.
“Picasso influenced me a great deal in terms of, not so much the painting—but I’m great admirer of him as an artist—but I loved his buying of houses and moving. And I thought that was terrific as a kid, and I kind of copied that idea.”
Newport, RI is known for preservation of its historic homes, a passion that is shared by Slonem. Like Doris Duke—who founded Newport Restoration Foundation—Slonem has made it his mission to purchase and painstakingly restore several historic properties. Among his projects is a recent purchase of a 68,000-square-foot, 43-room castle in Great Barrington, MA and a vast armory in Pennsylvania that includes a giant room “that you could drive a truck into.” These spaces have become more than just homes. Slonem has filled them up with his vast collection of art, antiques and objects.
“I buy old houses that are grand, that have become sort of public, things like schools or whatever, and then I save them, but I don’t do this to sell them.”
His love for preservation ties closely to his spiritual worldview: his belief in the sacredness of history and place.
“I hope to leave them as museums with my work.
“I’m just tired of people spending their lives putting things together and then it goes up for auction when they die.
“Well, I just love it,” is how he described the process of safeguarding their cultural heritage.
“One of my plantations [in Louisiana] is given to the Marquis de Lafayette by Thomas Jefferson,” he added.
Slonem’s visits to Newport are always a highly anticipated highlight of the summer cultural calendar. The Jessica Hagen gallery has played a crucial role in connecting Slonem’s works with Newport’s discerning art crowd.
Despite having over 300 solo exhibitions worldwide, Slonem remains tirelessly committed to new projects, including some upcoming sculpture shows he’s currently working on. He also has gallery shows coming up in Sag Harbor, Germany, Park City, Greenwich, and Fort Lauderdale.
His work resides in the collections of major institutions such as the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He’s also created large-scale works, including one of my favorite New York City murals, the canvas of birds that adorns the iconic Bryant Park Grill (the things you find out when interviewing someone!).
Pop art has been an ongoing fascination for the artist as well, with his featured figures of Abraham Lincoln and Marilyn Monroe among the subjects he’s painted. He’s also added some fun portraits of Queen Elizabeth II (also among my favorites) to that paradigm.
“Hunt Slonem: Field of Dreams” is on display June 20-July 27 at the Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design gallery at 9A Bridge St, Newport, RI. The opening reception is June 28, 2025, 5:00–7:00 p.m.
“Hunt Slonem: Bunnies” runs June 18 – August 31, 2025, in the Sarah Langley Gallery at the Hammetts Hotel, located at 4 Commercial Wharf, Newport, RI. The gallery is open daily, and there is no reception for the show.