The 6'6" Peter Garrett is former lead singer of Midnight Oil and now Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts in Australia. He is probably best known in the States from the "Beds Are Burning" music video back in the mid 1980's. With his bald head, rugged features and spasmodic dancing, he makes for a memorable figure. I still have VCR recording of "Blackfella Whitefella" documentary that featured some great songs and showed how active the band was politically. They were big on environmental and Aboriginal issues. All these years later he's an elected member of Australia's Labor Party and appears to be having mixed results of trying to change the system from within rather than shouting from without. Not an easy thing to do, but I give him credit for trying and wish him well.
Although his voice, both singing and speaking, is probably what's got him to where he is today, if you think his height had nothing to do with his political influence, take a look at this!
Learn more about him at Wikipedia and his own website.
About the art:
For some reason I felt a compulsion to sketch Peter Garrett and try to capture the power of his voice and physical energy of his unique "dancing". I don't remember using a reference photo. I think it was my mental impression of him: bald head, large frame, flailing limbs and screaming mouth. I added the orange overlay in Photoshop to capture the heat of the Australian desert and the passion in his voice.
On a side note ...
While browsing the Illustration Friday postings I discovered the work of Ann Raff and this fun watercolor she made. Revel in the tall trees with the birds!
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