Gina Parr

Born: 1957

Hometown: Exeter

Based in: Exmouth Devon and East London

Gina Parr is a painter and photographer who 'paints' with her camera when traveling.

Nature, memory and identity serve as the cornerstone of her work, her childhood spent diversely in wide-open spaces with her father fishing for mackerel and at home with her mother's extreme hoarding and mental health issues inherently informs her practice. Consequently the work is often imbued with the atmosphere and narrative of both these experiences whilst exploring the space between abstraction and figuration: A guttural and painterly response to “being.”
Lyrics from songs, things said, current affairs, sexual politics, passages from literature, presence and absence all play their part, whilst she ultimately longs to find an emotive and visual balance within the work which she hopes, will in turn, speak to the viewer’s inner self.

Originally receiving a First Class BA Honours Degree in Fine Art, she went on to Chelsea College of Art to study set design, leading to a 25 year career Production Designing many notable shows for BBC Television, returning to her full time Art practice in 2007.

Since then, she has widely exhibited in galleries and art fairs in the UK and Europe. She has works in Worldwide collections including Keble College Oxford and has completed commissions in UAE, Belgium, London and USA, and Glen Scotia Whisky, part of the Loch Lomond group, for a very special release in 2025. Parr has also lectured at Chelsea College of Art and Nottingham University.

She was selected for the RA Summer Show 2024 and the Royal Western Academy Open 2023 and will again be exhibiting at the RWA in March 2025.

Gina Parr In The Studio

"Art is longing. You never arrive but you keep going in the hope that you will" - Anselm Kiefer

More About Gina Parr

Question Icon What inspires you?

Life, death, loss, memories, scape, nature, colour, relationships, feminism, climate change. My work is an expression of my experience, the intermingling of both joy and pain: the human condition.

Question Icon Describe your creative process.

Working with water based oil, charcoal, chalk pastel and sometimes acrylic, the paint is applied with a pallet knife, cloth, sponge, or even fingers. I work with immediacy, sometimes by pouring water and then blurring with a large brush, often drawing into the paint with a freedom of gut to hand expression. Whilst painting, I am completely immersed in the process, building a reverberating relationship with the canvas, a push and pull of spontaneity and controlled intention where I explore the line between dynamic gestural mark making and detailed concentrated drawing.

Question Icon What are 3 words that best describe your work?

Emotional, Bold, Innovative.

Question Icon Who are some artists that have influenced your work?

Tracey Emin, Lee Krasner, Cy Twombly, Rothko, Anselm Keifer, Howard Hodgkin.

Question Icon What is the most important tool when creating your work?

A clear head. I tend to do any office work first thing in the morning prior to going to the studio.

Question Icon What is the best piece of advice you have been given?

A past tutor and renowned Artist once told me: " Never clasify yourself as a local Artist."

Question Icon Where do you go for inspiration?

The moors, the sea, anywhere that I can feel and see space and nature. Also, inside my head, time spent alone with my memories, things that make me melancholic, angry or joyful drive me on to create.

Collections Featuring Gina Parr

9 Collections

Unique Art Pieces for the Holiday Season

72 Artists, 94 Products

Last updated: October 24, 2023

New In Artworks: March 2022

51 Artists, 58 Products

Last updated: March 14, 2022

Large Paintings

52 Artists, 63 Products

Last updated: June 3, 2021

View all collections

Credentials

Education

Chelsea College of Art

United Kingdom, 1982

Middlesex University

United Kingdom, 1981

Coventry Art College

United Kingdom, 1979

Awards

Shortlisted Royal Academy Summer Show London

2024

Shortlisted ING Discerning Eye - Mall Galleries London

2023

Associate member of Society of Women Artists

2021

Shortlisted /Exhibited Chaiya Art Awards OXO Gallery London

2020

Shortlisted / Exhibited Chaiya Art Awards OXO Gallery London

2018

Aesthetica Art Prize Longlisted

2017

Aesthetica Art Prize Longlisted

2014

Royal Television Society Design Award 1 of 3 Shortlisted

1996

Awarded Arts Council England Grant

1981

Awarded Arts Council England Grant

1980

Exhibitions

The Empire, Bath, Sandra Higgins Art

United Kingdom, 2025

Partnership / Painting Commission for Glen Scotia special whisky release, , Loch Lomond Group

United Kingdom, 2024

Howard Hue Gallery Camden London

United Kingdom, 2024

Society of Women Artists - Mall Galleries London

United Kingdom, 2024

Immersed and Imbued at One Paved Court Gallery, Richmond

United Kingdom, 2024

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

United Kingdom, 2024

Photograph featured on Trigger Point 2 - ITV

United Kingdom, 2023

Various Artwork featured on Breeders 4 on Sky 1

United Kingdom, 2023

ING Discerning Eye - The Mall Galleries London

United Kingdom, 2023

Royal West of England - RWA photo open

United Kingdom, 2023

Chivalry Work featured on Drama Series Channel 4

United Kingdom, 2022

161st Annual Exhibition Society of Women Artists at the Mall Gallery London

United Kingdom, 2022

Collaboration with Tsivrikos Shake London

United Kingdom, 2022

Transition Dreams

France, 2022

Commission of 4 large works at Neon Gallery London for Squire & Partners London

United Kingdom, 2021

Group show of Gallery Artist The Archive Fine Art - 14 The Guild Salisbury

United Kingdom, 2021

The Stratford Gallery 62 High St, Broadway WR12 7DT

United Kingdom, 2021

Satellites - Rise Art Group show London

United Kingdom, 2021

Memory palace - Group show Irving Contemporary Oxford

United Kingdom, 2021

Winter group show - Linden Hall Studio Deal Kent

United Kingdom, 2021

Group show - The Stratford Gallery, Broadway

United Kingdom, 2021

Photographs on set of “This Way Up” for Channel 4

United Kingdom, 2021

Paintings & Photography on set of SKY Production “Breeders“ series 1-3 staring Martin Freeman

United Kingdom, 2021

160th Annual Exhibition Mall Galleries London ( Online )

United Kingdom, 2021

SWA 159th Annual Mall Galleries London

United Kingdom, 2020

"Night fishing" Solo Show David Lolly Gallery

United Kingdom, 2019

“ Deceived with Ornament " Renata Maiblum Gallery Copenhagen

United Kingdom, 2019

Solo show “ Casting off “ Brook Contemporary Budleigh Salterton Devon

United Kingdom, 2018

Solo show Candida Stevens Gallery Chichester

United Kingdom, 2014

Press

Where is God in our 21st Century World?

2018

Tallulah Art and Design Journal

2017

The independant review

2014

Homes and Gardens

2014

The Londonist

2013

Discover Art Issue 1

2013