Dean Leonard Buchanan (born 22 June 1952) is a New Zealand-based abstract and landscape painter. He has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand, as well as in Chile, the USA, and Japan. His first solo show in 1978 was at the Outreach Gallery in Ponsonby, Auckland. He has also been involved in many group shows - the first at the age of 19, the “ Young Contemporaries” at The Auckland City Art Gallery in 1971. Dean Buchanan is one of New Zealand’s best-known artists. From an early age he showed talent, painting large oils that demonstrated both technical brilliance and a close affinity with the natural world. During the past thirty years he has become probably New Zealand’s most prolific (and also most affordable) painter, as well as one of the most instantly recognisable. His paintings are found in homes throughout New Zealand, in public buildings and galleries both here and overseas. He has also exhibited in Australia, Japan, Chile, Switzerland and the USA. Coupled with his creative talent is an ability to live life to the full. No shrinking violet, 'Wild Beast’ Buchanan has always expressed himself forthrightly, especially in defence of preserving New Zealand’s natural environment. He has also become a mountaineer of some note, and in January 2007 succeeded in climbing Mt Cook. Bob Harvey interviewed Dean Buchanan extensively for this book, and describes every facet of his life. The book also includes sixty reproductions of some of his greatest paintings. Over a period of about forty years artist Dean Buchanan has continually put his distinct and dynamic view of New Zealand landscape on canvas and hessian. The physical kind of relationship Buchanan has with the landscape is translated directly into his quick and forthright way of painting. The impact the landscape has on him is also clear in his work, which is bold in color and line and full of a sense of rhythm.