#4 Martin Parr

Martin Parr
British, b. 1952

"Born in Epsom, Surrey, Martin Parr has studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic (1970-73) and gained early recognition in Europe and abroad as he won three successive awards from the Arts Council of Great Britain in the late 1970s.

To support his career as a freelance photographer, he took on various teaching assignments between 1975 and the early 1990s. Then, after much heated debate because of his provocative photographic style, he became a Magnum member in 1994, and his work has been widely exhibited in Europe and the United States and acquired by a large number of public collections.

In recent years Parr, a prolific photographer who best expresses himself through books, has continued shooting assignments in medium-format color, but has also experimented with fill-in flash and a 35mm ringflash camera. His subject matter continues to be the study of the idiocies of mass tourism as well as the spiritual crisis of the lower classes and the middle class. He shows us an environmentally destroyed world in which the major saving grace is a gritty, very British sense of humor. He has shot several film documentaries and a TV documentary, "Think of England"."
http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/TreePf_MAG.aspx?E=29YL53UHBZX&Det=T

Parr specialises in the boring. He loves and collects boring photographs. There is a lot of humour and cynicism in all of his photographs. He is also obsessed with objects and now has the biggest collection of Saddam Hussein watches (he made a series out of them - see below). Martin Parr prolonges the documentary tradition, with a twist. A must see. He had a big influence on Stephen Gill (see link for his work) who is now receiving a lot of attention as well.
Parr also organised the exhibitions in the "35es Festival international de la photographie" in Arles in 2004, a show where he has been participating since 1986.




Martin Parr - Europe (From the Phone Series)


Martin Parr, Ocean Dome [bath center], 1996
C-Print, ex. no. 2/25, 41,5 x 51 cm [65,5 x 74 cm framed]


Martin Parr, from Common Sense 1995-1999. Martin Parr, courtesy Rocket Gallery


Martin Parr, from Common Sense 1995-1999. Martin Parr, courtesy Rocket Gallery

Partial Bibliography

Bad Weather, 1982
A Fair Day, 1984
Last Resort, 1986
One Day Trip, 1989
The Cost of Living, 1989
Home and Abroad, 1993
Bored Couples, 1993
From A to B, 1994
Small World, 1995
Common Sense, 1999
Boring Postcards 1999
Martin Parr. Autoportrait. 2000
Think of England. 2000.
Martin Parr, 2002

Martin Parr will be exhibiting his Fashion Show at the Rocket Gallery from 20 MAY to 3 JULY.
Rocket (New Space in the Tea Building)
Ground Floor, Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High St, E1 6JJ