MARTIN PARR (1952-2025, UK)

'Common Sense 27 (Pink Pig Cakes, Bristol, UK)' (aka Piggies. United Kingdom. 1997) (from Common sense series, 1995-1999), 1997/2002

SIGNED Color Photograph

Beautiful Color Coupler Print (C-Print) on Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper. Limited edition of 100. Dimensions: 12" x 16" sheet, 9-1/2" x 14-1/2" image. SIGNED and numbered '9/100' in marker on verso. Excellent condition with no visible defects, never framed or mounted (last image shown is a framed example).

REFERENCE:

Martin Parr: Common Sense, Dewi Lewis Publishing, 1999, p. 24

Martin Parr, by Wiiliam Vals, Phaidon Press, 2002, p. 294

Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth-Century Photograph, Tate Gallery Publishing, Ltd., 2003, p. 249

The Photograph as Contemporary Art, Thames & Hudson, 2004, plate 176, p. 183

Common Sense 27 shows a tray of iced cupcakes that have been decorated as pigs. Each cake is colored a brilliant pink, embellished with additional candy icing to create eyes, snouts and large, jutting ears. They sit in individual frilled patty pans on a gold embossed doily. The cakes appear identical initially but on closer inspection show individual traits, each one appears to have a unique facial expression and personality. There is a sense of the ridiculous, as rows of beady eyes peer out from their glorified, gold tray.

The Common Sense series is a major body of work within Parr's ongoing exploration of globalization, mass tourism, class culture and consumerism. In common with much of his work, this series presents images critical of the contemporary culture with a distinctive sense of irony and British humor. There is something uncomfortable in all these photographs. We laugh at them while being slightly embarrassed by their familiarity and are acutely aware of the gulf between a dream of glamor and the sad synthetic reality.

Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography, recognized as a brilliant satirist of contemporary life. Author of over thirty photography books, including Common Sense, Our True Intent Is All for Your Delight and Boring Postcards, his photographs have been collected by museums worldwide, including the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY and the Tate Modern, London, UK. A retrospective of his work continues to tour major museums around the world since opening at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK in 2002. Parr is a member of Magnum Photos.

SELECT RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2026
'Martin Parr: A Fair Day', The Photographers' Gallery, London, UK (2/6 - 4/19)
'Martin Parr: Global Warning', Jeu de Paume, Paris, France (1/30 - 5/24)
'Martin Parr: Whitby Goth Festival', Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, UK (1/21 - 5/10)

2025
'Grand Hotel Parr: Photo Books by Martin Parr', Neues Museum Nuremberg, Nuremberg, Germany (10/24/2025 - 2/22/2026)

2024
'Martin Parr: No Smoking', Rocket Gallery, London, UK
'Martin Parr: In Colour', Leica Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany
'Martin Parr: Early Works', Fotografie Forum Frankfurt (FFF), Frankfurt, Germany
'Martin Parr: Short & Sweet', Museo Civico Archeologico, Bologna, Italy
'Martin Parr: DCMP Devon and Cornwall', Burton at Bideford Art Gallery and Museum, Bideford, UK
'Martin Parr: Life's a Beach', Palazzo Callas Exhibitions, Sirmione, Italy
'Martin Parr: Fashion Faux Parr', Janet Borden Inc., Brooklyn, NY
'Martin Parr: Fashion Faux Parr', Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France
'Magnum Fashion: Curated by Martin Parr', Magnum Gallery, London, UK
'Martin Parr: Short & Sweet', Museo delle Culture (MUDEC) Photo, Milan, Italy

2023 
'Martin Parr: Parrathon', Abbaye de Stavelot, Stavelot, Belgium
'Martin Parr: The Parr Survey', Harper's Chelsea 534, New York, NY
'Martin Parr: Sports & Spectatorship', Rocket Gallery, London, UK
'Martin Parr: Recent Work', Photo London 2023 Master of Photography, Somerset House, London, UK
'Martin Parr: A Year in the Life of Chew Stoke Village', Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, UK

2022 
'Martin Parr: Déjà View', Magnum, Paris, France
'Martin Parr: Life's a Beach', Giant Gallery, Bournemouth, UK
'Martin Parr: Life's a Beach', Kunsthalle Budapest, Budapest, Hungry
'MARTIN PARR | CORBIN SHAW', OOF Gallery, London, UK
'Martin Parr: Time and Place', McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA

2021 
'VillaToilet MartinMedici PaperParr', Villa Medici, Rome, Italy
'Martin Parr's Ireland: 40 Years of Photography', Gallery of Photography Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
'Island Life – Photographs from the Martin Parr Foundation', Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, UK

2020 
'Martin Parr: World Tour', Janet Borden, Inc., Brooklyn, NY
'Martin Parr: The Eye of Parr', Synthesis Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria
'Martin Parr: Small World', Lorena Carrillo Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico

2019 
'Martin Parr: Retrospective', NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
'Martin Parr: Only Human', National Portrait Gallery, London, UK

2018 
'Martin Parr: Beach Therapy', Spazio Damiani, Bologna, Italy
'Martin Parr: Early Work 1971-1986', Huxley-Parlour, London, UK
'Martin Parr: Remote Scottish Postboxes', Rocket Gallery, London, UK
'Martin Parr: Souvenir - A Photographic Journey', Stadthaus Ulm, Ulm, Germany

2016 
'Unseen City: Photos by Martin Parr', Guildhall Art Gallery and London's Roman Amphitheatre, London, UK
'The Rhubarb Triangle & Other Stories: Photographs by Martin Parr', The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK

2015 
'Martin Parr: Souvenir', Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
'Life’s a Beach: Photographs by Martin Parr', Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL

2013
'Martin Parr: Life's a Beach', Aperture Gallery, New York, NY

2012
'Martin Parr: Assorted Cocktail', Gemeentemuseum Helmond, Helmond, The Netherlands 

2011
'Martin Parr: The Goutte d'Or !', L'Institut des Cultures d'Islam, Paris, France
'Martin Parr: Common Sense Revisited', Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen, Denmark
'Martin Parr & Rimaldas Viksraitis: The Real World', AnzenbergerGallery, Wien, Austria
'Martin Parr: Assorted Cocktail', Dox Centre for Contemporary Art, Praha, Czech Republic
'The Truth is Not in the Mirror: Photography and a Constructed Identity' (group exhibition), Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI

2010
'Embarrassment of Riches: Picturing Global Wealth, 2000–2010' (group exhibition), Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
'Martin Parr: the Albert Street Years', Hebden Bridge Arts Festival, Hebden Bridge, UK
'Martin Parr: Luxury', Galería Espacio Mínimo, Madrid, Spain
'Martin Parr: Four Decades', Studio Trisorio, Rome, Italy
'Martin Parr: Four Decades', Studio Trisorio, Naples, Italy
'Martin Parr: Luxury', Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
'In Focus: Tasteful Pictures' (group exhibition), Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
'Martin Parr', Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, IL
'Martin Parr: Playas', Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico

2009
'Martin Parr: Parrbooks', Rocket Gallery, London, UK
'Martin Parr: Parrworld', BALTIC, Gateshead, UK
'Martin Parr: Planète Parr (Parrworld)', Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
'Martin Parr: Playas', Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France 
'Martin Parr: Luxury', Second Street Gallery (SSG), Charlottesville, VA
'Auto: Dream and Matter' (group exhibition), LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón, Spain
'Martin Parr: Luxury', Nicola von Senger, Zürich, Switzerland
'Martin Parr: Parr-O-Rama', Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY

2008
'Martin Parr', Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
'Martin Parr: Parking Spaces', Flatland Gallery, Utrecht, The Netherlands
'Martin Parr: Parrworld', Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
'Martin Parr: Assorted Cocktail', santralistanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
'Martin Parr: Dubai', The Third Line Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
'Three From Britain: Chris Killip, Martin Parr & Graham Smith', Rose Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
'MAGNUM Photos 60 years', Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2007
'Martin Parr: Assorted Cocktail', C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
'Martin Parr', Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden
'Martin Parr: Fashion Magazine', Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan
'Martin Parr: A8 + Parking Spaces', Rocket Gallery, London, UK
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', Seoul Arts Centre, Seoul, Korea
'Being Beauteous' (group exhibition), White Space Gallery in St Peter's, London, UK
'Martin Parr: México', Galería Espacio Mínimo, Madrid, Spain

2006
'Martin Parr: Fashion Magazine', Ellen Curlee Gallery, St. Louis, MO
'Martin Parr: Mexico', Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
'Martin Parr: Mexico', 212BERLIN, Mexico City, Mexico
'Martin Parr: Odense Photo Triennial', Museet for Fotokunst . Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense, Denmark
'Martin Parr: Assorted Cocktail', Visual Gallery Photokina, Köln Messe, Köln, Germany
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', FORMA Centro Internazionale di Fotografia, Milan, Italy
'Martin Parr', Sabine Schmidt Galerie, Köln, Germany
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', Preus fotomuseum, Horten, Norway
'Martin Parr: Tutta Roma', Musei Capitolini - Centrale Montemartini, Rome, Italy
'Martin Parr: Fashion Magazine', Danziger Projects, New York, NY
'Martin Parr', Rose Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
'Martin Parr: Fashion Magazine', Daiter Contemporary, Chicago, IL

2005
'Martin Parr: Think of England' and 'Martin Parr: Cocktail', Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris, France
'Martin Parr', Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
'Martin Parr: Swissness', Galerie Nicola von Senger, Zürich, Switzerland
'Martin Parr: The Phone Book', Galerie Albrecht, Münich, Germany
'Summer in the UK: Martin Parr and The John Hinde Butlin's Photographs', Daiter Contemporary, Chicago, IL
'Martin Parr: Parking Places', Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
'Martin Parr: Fashion Show', Rocket Gallery, London, UK and Bon Marché Department Store, Paris, France
'Martin Parr: Think of England', Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
'Martin Parr: Think of England & Germany', Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany
'Martin Parr: Parking Places', Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP), Paris, France

2004
'Martin Parr: Small World', Festival Explorafoto, Sala de Exposiciones La Salina, Salamanca, Spain
'Martin Parr: Common Sense', Studio Trisorio Roma, Rome, Italy
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Internationales Haus der Photographie, Hamburg, Germany
'Martin Parr: Think of England', Janet Borden, Inc., New York, NY
'Europe, oh la la!', Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia
'Martin Parr', André Simoens Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
'Martin Parr: Common Sense', Stephen Daiter, Chicago, IL

2003
'Parr Pictures (still cheap)', 20.21 Galerie Edition Kunsthandel, Essen, Germany
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain
'Martin Parr: Small World', Diana Gallery, Athens, Greece
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands
'Martin Parr: Das sind wir', c/o Berlin, Berlin, Germany
'Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000', National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen, Denmark
'Martin Parr: Phone Project & Common Sense', Studio Trisorio, Napoli, Italy
'Martin Parr', Galerie Ludovic de Wavrin, Paris, France

A retrospective of Parr's work, Martin Parr: Photographic Works 1971 - 2000 debuted at the Barbican Gallery, London (2002) and traveled in Europe through 2005. Organized by the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford and the Barbican Gallery, London, with the support of Magnum Photos, London (Parr has been a member since 1994), this major retrospective examined the career of Martin Parr, arguably the most influential and innovative figure in British social documentary photography. Bringing together around 150 works and several installations, the exhibition explored the provocative, incisive and humorous nature of Parr's internationally established and distinctive vision.

 

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