Art experts ‘floored’ by Hunter Biden’s paintings

One art expert said he was “floored” by Hunter Biden’s work

Hunter Biden, son of then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, addresses the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention, on August 20, 2020. Hunter is pursuing a full-time career as an artist. (DNCC via Getty Images)

Art experts say they are impressed by the work President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has been producing.

Hunter Biden, 51, has said he is pursuing a full-time career as an artist after struggling with substance abuse and creating political headaches for his father. Hunter Biden has plans underway for private showings of his artwork.

Potential buyers will be able to purchase some of his creations in Log Angeles this autumn, with a following exhibition planned in New York, according to artnet.com.

Prices for Hunter Biden’s work will range from $75,000 for works on paper to as high as half a million dollars for large-scale paintings, his Soho art dealer, Georges Berges, told artnet. It’s unclear whether any buyers have lined up to actually purchase the work.

Those price tags might sound high, but art dealers have praised Hunter’s artistic ability, saying his work could be worth big bucks.

Speaking to The New York Post, Mark Tribe, chairman of the MFA Fine arts department at New York City’s School of Visual Arts, suggested he was a fan of Hunter’s work, calling it “strong”.

“The colors and compelling organic forms – it’s the kind of organic abstraction that I find easy on the eyes and provokes your curiosity,’’ he said of Hunter’s mixed-media paintings and drawings.

Meanwhile, Alex Acevedo, 75, the owner of the Alexander Gallery in Midtown Manhattan, said he was “floored” by Hunter Biden’s talent.

“I’ve been in the art business since 1956...I’m not impressed with modern art at all. But I was floored by that guy,’’ he said of Hunter Biden’s work. “The palette was wonderful. The space was well-organized. I would buy a couple of them.”

The art expert said he believed that “anybody who buys” the president’s son’s work “would be guaranteed an instant profit”.

However, he admitted that is not entirely owing to Hunter Biden’s talent, saying: “He’s the president’s son. Everybody would want a piece of that. The provenance is impeccable.”

If Hunter Biden were not the president’s son, Mr Acevedo said his work would likely fetch around $25,000 to $100,000.

As a Biden, however, he said he believed the up-and-coming artist’s work could sell for as much as $1 million.

Speaking with artnet on his own motivations for pursuing an artistic career, Hunter Biden, who has struggled with drug addiction in the past, said he does not necessarily use his work to “cope”.

“It comes from a much deeper place,’’ he said.

“If you stand in front of a Rothko, the things that he evokes go far beyond the pain that Rothko was experiencing in his personal life at that moment,’’ he said, referring to the work of American abstract painter Mark Rothko.

“I don’t paint from emotion or feeling, which I think are both very ephemeral,” he said. “For me, painting is much more about kind of trying to bring forth what is, I think, the universal truth.”