HUNTOPIA - Catalog - Page 28
T H O R N TO N
Animals, including bunnies, butterflies, monkeys, and birds in particular, populate your paintings.
What is the significance, predominantly of avians?
SLO N E M
Well, I sit next to sixty birds that are alive while I paint … literal and spiritual. Birds are great pets, they
live longer than other animals. They’re much smarter than dogs and cats, they can repeat whole operas without
missing any libretto, not all of them, but … there are real genius birds out there. And they’re also tremendously
significant in terms of the way they’ve influenced painting, fashion, movement, dance—kept us alive,
sustenance. There’s just so much to say I don’t even know where to begin or end … but their form and color
is what captivated me initially.
T H O R N TO N
Related to your birds, your mark-making methods of scratching grids…
SLO N E M
That’s the cage, but I can say also that the bird in most religions represents the human soul. The cage is
the body, the bird is the soul. It’s about harnessing the soul and becoming one with it in harmony. Birds and
orchids are from another realm. It’s as if they’re not of the Earth, and they come from another dimension.
They’re a gift to the planet. And I’m also pointing out that we’re knocking off their habitats and the rainforest
is burned, which is the scariest thing. I can’t even imagine how we’re going to survive without the lungs
of the universe. The rainforest represents sixty million years of evolution, the Garden of Eden, and there’s so
many life forms we don’t even know that are hidden there. Then to lose half of it in the last month through
human nonsense and arrogance. I don’t want to say too much, but that’s the scariest thing I’ve ever heard
of in my lifetime. My work is about pointing out that we can better care for all this and know how privileged
we are that we have been blessed with this on our planet. People can’t take everything for granted anymore.
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