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Animal species under threat of extinction will come face-to-face with islanders in a 'wild' new exhibition opening today.
After painting the local coastline and trees, Graham Bannister - an artist with an enduring love of Jersey - has created a vivid new body of work focused on the the animal kingdom.
The artist's love for the island started 25 years ago with a series of paintings capturing Jersey's coastline.
In November 2017, the ‘Four Seasons’ exhibition at CCA Galleries International showcased the result of nearly two years of work alongside Trees for Life and National Trust for Jersey to record some of Jersey’s most iconic trees.
But Graham’s latest body of work focuses on the animal kingdom in the context of the threats extinction and climate change pose to it. Described as witty and powerful, the new paintings include the same level of detail he is famed for in his garden paintings.
Pictured: "Orangutan, The virgin of the rocks, (Leonardo da Vinci) maybe they need the same respect as we give to ourselves."
Earlier this year, Graham worked with Rathbones and Durrell to paint a life-size sculpture of a silverback for the Go Wild Gorillas' sculpture trail, which aims to raise funds for a new state-of-the-art gorilla house at Durrell Zoo.
Based at Les Quennevais Sports Centre, 'Forest Guardian' was inspired by the Gorilla Guardian program at Durrell as well as the work of the Jersey Zoo gorilla keepers.
Painted to look like a realistic gorilla, the sculpture also includes animals intertwined in the fur to represent the gorilla as a guardian of its habitat, which protects other species as it roams the forest.
His latest series, which features orangutans, can be seen at CCA Galleries International until 4 October. For those wishing to learn more about Graham's work, the painter will be giving a talk at the gallery today at 11:00.
Alongside Graham's work, visitors will get to discover that of sculptor Nicolas Guéguen. For the 'Wild' show he has created heads of indigenous persons to complement Graham’s paintings of indigenous animals.
From the age of five, Nicolas accompanied his grandfather searching for a water source. As his grandfather dug the well, Nicolas modelled the clay into figures.
Earlier this year, his work on migrants was shown at the Journées Européennes des Métiers d’Art at the Abbey de Leon and he also exhibited in London over the summer.
Bella Harvey, a fine botanical artist who has lived and painted flora and fauna in Italy, France and England, completes the offering of this latest exhibition.
Bella has always worked in watercolour, developing and refining a technique which includes observational drawing, colour and design.
In her “fantasy images”, the paintings contain many geometric references and a framework reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites.
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