Hunt Slonem’s unmistakable universe of rabbits, butterflies, birds and brilliant color arrived at One Art Space in Tribeca this summer with “Through the Looking Glass,” an exhibition bringing together works that capture the repetition, movement and fascination with nature that have become signatures of the celebrated American neo-expressionist artist.
The exhibition is on view from Friday, August 21st through Monday, September 28th, 2026 with an opening reception in early September, at One Art Space. The exhibition, Hunt Slonem’s first New York City exhibition in five years, moves between scale and intimacy, from expansive canvases populated by Slonem’s recurring natural motifs to jewel-like paintings framed almost as treasured objects. At its center is “Pink Ascension” (2021), a monumental 77-by-101-inch oil on canvas in which butterflies drift across a luminous pink field, transforming one of Slonem’s most enduring subjects into an enveloping study of rhythm, repetition and movement.
At the other end of the scale is “Blue Hutch” (2025), a 20-by-24-inch oil on wood depicting a gathering of Slonem’s instantly recognizable rabbits against a vivid blue ground. Presented within an ornate frame, the work captures the playful tension that runs throughout Slonem’s practice: spontaneous brushwork and seemingly simple subjects placed within compositions that feel at once contemporary, decorative and almost devotional.
Those two works establish the poles of a broader exhibition that ranges across Slonem’s visual vocabulary. Butterflies emerge repeatedly in works including “Red Sea Migration III” (2026), “Silver Ascension Travel Tomorrow” (2022) and “White Ascension (August Moon)” (2026), while his celebrated rabbits multiply across canvases and smaller works such as “Blue Rhapsody Diamond Dust” (2023), “Totem Fluffle” (2026) and “Pink Pair” (2026). The presentation also extends beyond painting to include Slonem’s sculptural work, reflecting the breadth of a practice in which familiar forms are continually revisited through changes in scale, material, color and surface.
Curator and Co-Owner of One Art Space, MaryAnn Giella McCulloh commented on the new exhibition, “There is something almost jewel-like about Hunt Slonem’s artistry—the color, texture and repetition, from his bunnies to his butterflies and beyond, draw you in. Beneath that beauty lies a deeper visual language, where nature, imagination, color and mystery become one. Through the Looking Glass is an invitation into his extraordinary world”
The repetition is fundamental to Slonem’s work. Inspired by nature and by the exotic birds with which he surrounds himself, the artist has spent decades returning to rabbits, butterflies and tropical birds, creating an immediately identifiable visual language characterized by textural brushwork, saturated color and repeated forms. Slonem has described his fascination with the patterns found throughout nature, from feathers and leaves to blades of grass as central to that approach.
Artist, Hunt Slonem said of new exhibition Through the Looking Glass, “A dream of what I see through the looking glass, where my creatures go, where we cannot see them, following their wonder—wonderland and inspiration, the source of all my creativity. A joyous venture. ”
“Through the Looking Glass” by Hunt Slonem is curated by MaryAnn Giella McCulloh and presented at One Art Space, 23 Warren Street in Tribeca. The exhibition is on view now through Monday, September 28th, 2026.
