"I've never really been a fanboy, but the first time I saw Martin Parr I ran up and drunkenly hugged him. I said: I love you Martin Parr! I couldn't help it. He was a hero of mine. And over the years he became my best artist friend. We were fellow travellers. He was funny, very dry and a big fan of comedy. One of the things we shared is that we both took comedy seriously."
"The problem with British culture, especially in the art world, is that it suffers from what I call performative seriousness. We tend to privilege misery. If you think of someone like Don McCullin another great British photographer it's all about suffering and doom and we are being told it is very important photography. Whereas Martin's work was funny, albeit in a very discomfiting way, which I think is why he got a lot of pushback from the British cultural establishment."
"He might photograph a woman in a beautiful satin suit, but he would focus on the grease stain on her lapel, or a fly that had landed on a hat. That's what made it a Martin Parr photograph. We did a kind of collaboration for my show Super Rich Interior Decoration, which was all about art collectors and money laundering and tax evasion. I asked if I could use some of his pictures of rich people"
An artist ran up to Martin Parr and drunkenly hugged him, later becoming his close friend and fellow traveller. Both valued comedy as serious artistic practice and used dry humor in their work. British art culture often privileges performative seriousness and misery, whereas Parr's photographs used comedy to discomfort and provoke. Parr travelled across the country photographing people and events with an acute eye for grotesque detail. His book Luxury captured vulgar wealthy gatherings, focusing on grease stains, flies and grasping, jewel‑encrusted hands. Images from Parr were used to critique art collectors, money laundering and tax evasion.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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