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S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 0 4 of the 19th century and sportsmen such as Theodore Roosevelt who banded together in desperate times to save bison, elk, and other game animals in the American West. "He is painting at a time in history where his artwork is important," says Parker, a Rhodesian-born art dealer with galleries in Jupiter and Naples, Florida. "That's why I picked him to be a pillar in a multi-year exhibition to raise awareness. For only being in his thirties, Jaco is amazingly versatile and his feel for his wild subjects is uncanny. It's as if he has spent his whole life in the bush." C alled "The Great Zambezi," Parker has enlisted three artists—Van Schalkwyk, Zimbabwe and South Africa painter David Langmead, and Ndebele sculptor and carver Mopho Gonde—to produce works reflecting three key stretches of the Zambezi River watershed, a biologically rich corridor that many see as a bellwether for African wildlife. "I brought these three together because they possess Zambezi Valley, where Mana's located, is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. It is something quite spectacular and heart-palpitating to walk in a place where there are still free-ranging lions." Van Schalkwyk is a rising star among a new generation of contemporary African artists. His classical approaches to painting wildlife are attracting attention among North American collectors. What's interesting, however, is that his oil paintings of wild animals stand in marked contrast to a body of work for which Van Schalkwyk is better known in his native land. For him, there is no conflict or contradiction between delving into idyllic nature scenes on one hand and, on the other, exploring allegorical, sometimes surreal depictions of subject matter involving race relations, religion, equality, freedom, and the environment. Regarding the latter, heading into the bush has opened his eyes and mind, he says. Although he does not carry a rifle, Van Schalkwyk could be considered kindred to the romantic artists SABLE AT MANA by JACO VAN SCHALKWyK