''Hunting for Slonem'' Opening Reception

Please join the Pensacola Museum of Art as it celebrates the opening reception for "Hunting for Slonem". This exhibition is an exploration into a lush, colorful and whimsical world, painted like no other. Slonem is most recognized for his paintings of tropical birds that symbolize the soul and spiritual liberation of the artist. His childhood growing up in the Hawaiian Islands and a brief stint as an exchange student in Nicaragua deepened his interest in nature and transformed the exotic into everyday experience. The Ogden Museum of Southern Art in collaboration with the Pensacola Museum of Art organizes this exhibit. Slonem, regularly referred to as a ''jet set celebrity artist,'' has had work fetch as much as $100,000. He has lived and worked in his legendary New York City loft with his seventy pet birds since 1973. The birds serve as both his pets and his models. His aviary, studio, paintings and lifestyle are so unique that they have frequently been featured on television and profiled in publications ranging from Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, Art News, and beyond. Celebrity collectors of Slonem range anywhere from Yoko Ono, Jimmy Fallon, Julianne Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Sharon Stone, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Anne Hathaway, Cameron Diaz and Mary Tyler Moore.