Giant is based on a backstage photograph of the actor James Dean, covered in oil after filming a scene in the eponymous 1956 feature film. The sheer size of Fowler’s drawing symbolises the magnitude and power of Dean as a public monument. Standing before it, the viewer is belittled by its towering scale and immediate impact — mimicking the way a vast cinema screen belittles its audience.

Although the size of the drawing plays up the masculine empowerment of Dean, his oiled body acts as a metaphor for the suffocating gloss of stardom and the difficulty of enduring it. The patterns on his body and face, reminiscent of war paint or African masks, add to the uniquely compelling, primitive light in which Fowler casts one of the most frequently portrayed actors in cinema history.