Member Spotlight: John Banovich

John Banovich serves on the boards of the Society of Animal Artists and the Craighead Environmental Research Institute as well as a founding member of 3RD HOME. His life and work have been featured in countless international publications, including Big Sky Journal, Western Art & Architecture and the Artist’s Magazine, as well as on various television programs aired on the Outdoor Channel, Versus and PBS. Through his art and the Banovich Wildscapes Foundation, he has raised millions of dollars for conservation and humanitarian causes. When not in India following the tracks of tigers or in Africa searching for the next wildlife encounter, he can be found painting at his studios in Livingston, Montana, and Seattle, Washington, where he lives with his wife, Amy.

THE FIRST TIME John Banovich picked up a paintbrush as a young boy in Butte, Montana, he knew he was meant to be an artist. Something in his DNA compelled him to study, marvel and translate to canvas the animals that roamed before his pure artist’s eye.

Now, nearly 40 years later, Banovich has established himself as the consummate “close-up and personal” wildlife artist. His unparalleled combination of talent, passion and drive has won him respect and accolades from collectors, peers, galleries, museums, conservations and sportsmen the world over.

“The Beast” is released.

Banovich Fine Art Publishing of Livingston, Montana, invites readers everywhere to look over the shoulder of a master painter and into the eyes of the BEAST…

BEAST: THE COLLECTED WORKS OF JOHN BANOVICH, is the first book to be published on the life and works of the artist. This beautifully designed and executed volume is a powerful presentation of Banovich’s accumulated work, as well as an inspiring story of his struggles, dead-ends, heartbreaks and ultimate triumph as one of the world’s foremost wildlife artists.

Written with noted outdoor journalist, David Cabela, son of the founders of the Cabela’s Outfitter Stores, this book takes the reader on a dramatic and compelling journey—from Banovich’s early days in Butte and art school in Seattle, to research and field trips in Africa, India, Pakistan, Siberia and other far-flung places and ultimately to the artist’s receipt of the Society of Animal Artists” “Presidential Award” and his current international recognition. The book also vividly describes Banovich’s work with his own Wildscapes Foundation, with the Lion P.R.I.D.E. Initiative and other important conservation efforts.

FILLED WITH over 100 fine-art reproductions, 50 field sketches and over 35 black-and-white and color photos, the book catalogs Banovich’s work from his early development prior to 1990, through the productive “African years” of the 1990s and into his present-day quest to paint interesting species all over the world.

The production quality of the book is exceptional and paintings are presented in high-resolution color in large format, with many of them overlapping two pages. Each painting is accompanied by data on the year, size and medium of the work, along with the artist’s notes on the setting, significance or background of the piece. A number of pages also include an anatomical or field sketch of the subject that the artist later incorporated into his paintings.

IN HIS INTRODUCTION to the book, James L. Bellis, Chairman of the Board of the Blauvelt Demarest Foundation, whose beneficiary is the prestigious Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, says of Banovich: “He is one of the most driven, highly motivated artists I know…(with a) relentless, nearly sleepless passion to pursue his profession and life’s purposes.” And of this newly published collection of the artist’s work, Bellis adds: “In this book, we see why Banovich is drawn to his subjects and why we are drawn beyond the conventional dimensions of the picture’s height, width and depth, into a fourth dimension of his art—the spirit, the essence of the subject, its deeper meaning, its soul.”

The book features a Foreword written by celebrated wildlife artist, Guy Coheleach, an early mentor of Banovich, whose paintings hang in the Smithsonian Gallery and in the White House. Jack Hanna, host of the award-winning television show, “Jack Hanna’s Into The Wild,” a good friend of Banovich and fellow conservationist, has also added his thoughts in a Prologue to the book.

THE BOOK IS BEING RELEASED in three simultaneous editions: a “Gallery Edition” with hardcover binding and dust jacket for distribution to bookstores, libraries, museums and art galleries; a canvas-and-faux-leather-bound and slip-cased artist-signed “Signature Edition” for sale on-line and through the mail; and a pre-ordered, large-format, numbered “Collector’s Edition” for patrons bound in genuine cowhide and housed in an African-mahogany wood presentation case.

To support the release of the book, the artist will be making appearances over the next two months in Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores in Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Dallas and Livingston, as well other promotions in the future through Safari Club International and other sporting clubs and conservation venues.