Safari Series: 2 Hyenas walk into a bar

Michael Godard painted Safari Series: 2 Hyenas walk into a bar in the high-contrast, character-driven style that has made him one of the best-known pop artists working today.

It appeals to collectors of nature and wildlife wall art and safari themed decor, part of the nature and wildlife side of Godard's catalog.

Edition Details & Sizing

Safari Series: 2 Hyenas walk into a bar is offered in 5 edition types to fit different budgets and wall sizes: the G (17.5" x 26", edition of 250) at $595, the Signed and Numbered (24" x 36", edition of 300) at $1,195, the Artist Proof (24" x 36", edition of 50) at $1,595, the Gallery Proof (24" x 36", edition of 25) at $1,995, and the Metal (40" x 60", edition of 50) at $3,995. Every edition is produced as a giclée, a fine-art inkjet process using archival pigment inks on artist-grade canvas or metal, and is individually hand-numbered to its edition size. See our edition types guide for a full explanation of what Artist Proof, Gallery Proof, Signed and Numbered, G, and Metal editions mean.

About Safari Series: 2 Hyenas walk into a bar

Safari Series: 2 Hyenas walk into a bar is part of Michael Godard's expanding catalog of limited edition fine art. Rendered in Godard's signature bold, saturated color palette, this piece from the Safari Series carries the same theatrical exaggeration and craftsmanship collectors recognize across his work: the Safari Series takes Godard's personified-character style out of the bar and into the savanna, giving big-game animals the same comic timing and hidden-detail treatment as his original olive characters. As with all of Godard's limited editions, the piece rewards close viewing: he is known for tucking hidden names, dates, and initials into his compositions, giving collectors new details to find long after the piece is on the wall.

Frequently Asked Questions

Authenticity & Guarantee

Safari Series: 2 Hyenas walk into a bar is verified before it ships: a certificate of authenticity confirms the edition type and number, and Michael Godard Gallery's status as an authorized Michael Godard dealer means the print traces directly back to the artist's studio. Godard has produced limited edition fine art like Safari Series: 2 Hyenas walk into a bar for more than two decades, with work held by private collectors nationwide.

About Michael Godard

2 Hyenas Walk Into a Bar does exactly what its title promises, setting up a joke and trusting Michael Godard's characteristically expressive animal characters to deliver the punch line. It belongs to his Safari Series, a body of work that extends the same personified, comic-timing approach he developed with olives and grapes into the animal kingdom, and the hyena, an animal already associated with laughter, is an obvious and inspired choice of subject.

That sense of comic timing has deep roots in Godard's own unconventional career. Born March 10, 1963, and raised in Pasadena before settling in Las Vegas, he studied at ArtCenter College of Design and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and spent his twenties as a professional drummer in Las Vegas bands and as an architectural draftsman rather than as a full-time painter. A friend's request for a martini-themed birthday piece led him to create his first personified olive, a decision made during a period of genuine hardship when Godard was living in his car to support his children.

He built his earliest audience trading finished paintings for meals at "drink and draw" nights in Las Vegas bars and restaurants, the exact kind of bar setting this painting's punch line depends on, and that same appetite for bar-culture humor carried directly into the Safari Series. Godard's well-known habit of hiding names, dates, and initials inside his compositions likely continues here as well.

His public career has grown well beyond gallery walls, earning him the nickname "Rockstar of the Art World" through television appearances on A&E's Criss Angel's Mindfreak, American Casino, and Cathouse: The Series, and collaborations including custom guitar artwork for Guns N' Roses. His 2006 book Don't Drink and Draw was named an Art Book of the Year, and a documentary about his life has won awards at multiple independent film festivals.

Since 2006, following the death of his teenage daughter Paige to brain cancer, Godard has supported St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Nevada Cancer Institute, regularly visiting hospitals to paint alongside children in treatment. 2 Hyenas Walk Into a Bar, silly on the surface, carries the same warmth and craft Godard brings to every painting, jokes included.

The Safari Series also includes Don't Drink the Water and Pride, each one applying the same bar-joke sensibility and expressive character work to a different corner of the animal kingdom. Ozzy Osbourne wrote the foreword to one of Godard's books, and Godard's artwork has reportedly been placed in a Pentagon officers' lounge and aboard U.S. Navy vessels, a formal audience for an artist whose sense of humor began, quite literally, in bars just like the one in this painting's title. His 2006 book Don't Drink and Draw was named an Art Book of the Year, and a documentary about his life has won awards at multiple independent film festivals, both proof that his sense of humor travels well beyond gallery walls and casino floors alike, all the way to hospital rooms where he paints alongside sick children.