Photographer Research - Peter Strain

Peter Strain

Peter Strain is an AOI, award-winning Illustrator.  His work is inspired by film and music as well as social, political and cultural issues. He tackles these with a highly distinctive hand lettering style, bold imagery and humour.
Strain's work inspires the incorporation of portraiture into presenting writing since I enjoy portraiture when it comes to photography and believe I best excel in this area, I thought it would be interesting to look further into incorporating the two.

Photo One

This piece is a 'typographic' portrait of the well-renowned filmmaker David Lynch. Strain has used words to reveal Lynch's skin, everything else in a realistic presentation. Majority of the painting is black, and the only dominant colour is the warm tones of Lynch's skin, his hair is also a prominent faded silver, this can convey wisdom and this can be supported by the fact Lynch is very talented and lived a long eventful life. Lynch's expression is blank and lifeless, but the atmosphere is still contained by the words revealing him, like a message saying this man's history speaks for himself. It is difficult to make out all the words on Lynch's face, but I will assume these words represent Lynch's legacy and history. 

Photo Two

This piece is a part of his 'TYPEface series', a side profile portrait of a woman with her hair merged into the sea. The writing revealing this woman's face is lyrics that Strain had written himself, the lyrics seeming to metaphor the ocean, linking with the merging of the sea and a boat on the women also. The lack of colour removes a welcoming atmosphere that could potentially be created with blue tones in the painting, this though has the viewer more focused on the actual creation rather than distracted by vibrant colouring. The lyrics and merged sea could convey this woman's story or something that has deeply affected her, something significant to, this is suggested by the sea being merged on her head, potentially portraying her thoughts, and the lyrics revealing her face, suggesting that these words define her.

Photo Three

This piece is titled 'Weinstein Game Over', a cover for Variety discussing the matter of the filmmaker Harvey Weinstein and his sexual assault cases being exposed. The words this time do not reveal Weinstein's face, but rather surround him as if these are the things he can never get away from. The sentences are statements from the victims of Weinstein's actions, making them bold and clear to read, the intention being to make Weinstein's actions not unnoticed. Weinstein's portrait is highly detailed, his facial features distinct and defined, no colour so there is no distraction, this suggests Strain wants viewers to recognise the face significantly and to link it with these statements.

Photo Four

This piece is titled 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou', this being an American comedy film of an oceanographer. The film this painting is associated with goes through an ocean adventure, explaining the anchors and little submarine in the background, also the blue toning everywhere. The words appear to be the listing of the actors and details of the film, these words revealing the face of the character Steve Zissou. This painting appears as an abstract way of advertising the movie, presenting the overall information while displaying the focus of the film.

Overall…

I believe the use of words to reveal and define a person in this abstract form is genius and a well-executed interpretation for writing, fluidity to interpretation of the work is small but the use of defining one's identity is powerful and can present strong messages.
I believe Strain's work will inspire me to further my skills in portraiture and creativity in presenting the topic writing, with his strong use identity themes.