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Sid Gavandi
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The Call of the Wild exhibition card: my ink drawing of a leopard on deep green

Call of the Wild

Animal portraits in alcohol-based markers and white ink on paper, and one acrylic painting, all shaped by a trip to Kenya. Shown at Gray Sky Gallery, Pioneer Square, Seattle, in April 2025.

Watch the walkthroughFull series on Behance

Foreword

Printed on the exhibition card
Me at a microphone, talking guests through the work on opening night
Talking guests through the work on opening night

I am drawn to the wild through its raw energy and quiet resilience. In the animals I sketch, I see reflections of my own journey through their instinct and will to survive. Kenya wasn’t just a place I visited; it was a place that awakened something primal in me, a deeper connection to the world as it is, unfiltered and free.

Every brushstroke carries that experience, every portrait is a piece of that untamed soul.

This exhibition is not just about what I saw, but what I felt, what stayed with me, and what continues to shape the way I create and live.

I hope you connect with the animals—feel their presence, their strength, and perhaps even a part of yourself in their eyes. And when you walk away, may you carry a deeper appreciation for the wild, both in the world around you and within yourself.

Sid Gavandi
Opening night, in 28 seconds
A leopard portrait in gray alcohol-based markers with white ink whiskers, on textured paper, the face filling the top of the sheet
A leopard portrait from the show · alcohol-based markers and white ink pen on paper

More from the series

Alcohol-marker and white ink portrait of a big cat looking up, only the face at the bottom of the sheet
Close-up ink drawing of a zebra's muzzle and whiskers at the edge of the sheet
Ink and marker portrait of a monkey's wide eyes peeking up from the bottom of the sheet
Marker portrait of a rhino calf walking beside its mother, who faces the viewer
Ink and marker portrait of an ostrich head and long neck, looking straight out

Alcohol-based markers and white ink on paper

The portrait

The one painting in a room of marker-and-ink portraits. The warrior isn’t a single person: he is a reflection of the Masai people I met on my trip to Kenya, built up in thick, raised acrylic on stretched canvas.

Me painting the portrait at an easel in my garden
In progress, in my garden. The grid I painted over is still showing.
The finished Masai warrior portrait on an easel, under the Call of the Wild card
Finished
Me beside the finished portrait at the exhibition, with my animal portraits behind
On opening night

From a grid on a blank canvas in my garden to the center of the room at Gray Sky Gallery.

In Kenya

Me standing in dry grass under an acacia tree at dusk, a camera with a long lens hanging from each hand
Me sitting in the open door of a safari vehicle in a wide hat and sunglasses
Me standing with a Masai man in a red checked shuka and a beaded headband, in dry grass with mountains and clouds behind us
The AI guideGrounded in my published work
Ask how Kenya shaped the work, or how making connects to my design practice.
Ask the guide