Born 1963 in Switzerland, Peter Maurer (who also somewhat ironically shares a name with the global director of Red Cross International) uses his mastery of the analogue medium to craft images which often sit just on the edge of disbelief, held back only by the suspense of the physical media itself. High grain and high contrast are his two specialties, and form a conducive theme throughout his works, often when printed and scanned they have a very palpable texture to them that other photographers often don’t experiment with anymore; simply out of the convenience of digital works and resin coated papers.
Infrared exposures yield some of the more tonally diverse creations, which are easily identified by the discerning eye; his subject matter contributes to the intenseness of this, seeing as themes of environmentalism and human commonalities are even more profound when presented in contrasting shades. Here you can see his work using these human torsos and circular imagery, adding a biologic to notions also experimented on by photographers like Gordon Matta Clarke – this produces a surprisingly pleasing geometric effect, which holds itself at the distance of the actual paper’s grain and texture.
