John Banovich -Silverback Mountain Gotilla 2009**RESALE

John Banovich -Silverback Mountain Gotilla 2009**RESALEJohn Banovich Silverback Mountain Gorilla, 2009 Graphite on paper 10h x 10w in 25. 40h x 25. 40w cm $ 4,400 I drew this in Rwanda, sitting with Guhonda in Volcanoes National Park. He was the largest silverback I had ever encountered, and there was something about the way he carried himself, that stillness and absolute self possession, that made you want to get it right. I worked in pencil because nothing else felt honest enough for the moment. Short

John Banovich
Silverback Mountain Gorilla, 2009
Graphite on paper
10h x 10w in
25.40h x 25.40w cm
$ 4,400

I drew this in Rwanda, sitting with Guhonda in Volcanoes National Park. He was the largest silverback I had ever encountered, and there was something about the way he carried himself, that stillness and absolute self possession, that made you want to get it right. I worked in pencil because nothing else felt honest enough for the moment. Short strokes built up slowly across his shoulders, trying to capture the sheer weight of him, while his face I left quieter, because that's where the dignity lived.

"Guhonda has since passed. He was known across the gorilla world for his size, his strength, and a kind of quiet authority that you felt before you saw it. Losing him felt like the closing of something. I'm not sure there are words that do it justice, so I kept coming back to this sketch.

This sketch was made as the original piece accompanying the collector edition of my book The Beast, a project produced in very limited numbers for people who I knew would look after it. That edition sold out some time ago and rarely surfaces. The sketch itself almost never does.

I've held onto work before because it felt connected to something larger than the sketch. This is one of those pieces. It's a record of a morning in Rwanda, of an animal that was genuinely one of a kind, and of a moment that can't be repeated. That's what I hope comes through when you look at it." John Banovich

We are pleased to offer a prior painting for sale to our collectors. Over the last decade we have provided an art consulting and resale service to clients whose lives are changing. With decades of experience we assist in the valuation, advisement and placement of art in private and public collections or in some recent instances, raising funds for vital projects we support in Africa through our Banovich Wildscapes Foundation. It has been our pleasure to assure clients that their investment in John Banovich originals is preserved, should their life or purpose change.