Gina Parr b: 1957 is a British Painter and Photographer.
“Nature, memory and identity serve as the cornerstone of my work. My childhood spent diversely sea fishing for mackerel with my father and at home with my mother's hoarding and mental health issues inherently informs my practice. Consequently the work is imbued with the atmosphere and narrative of both these experiences, whilst exploring the liminal space between abstraction and figuration, absence and presence.
My paintings are formed through layers of oil, charcoal, pastel and acrylic, scratching, drawing, removing and adding into the surface, until reconciled. When not in my painting studio and whilst traveling, I 'paint with my camera’, instead, seeking to find my paintings within the marks, stains, colours and textures of distressed and weathered walls and other surfaces, some of which have intentionally or accidentally been laid down by others. My intent is to photographically frame these images and subsequently print them exactly as found. To date, I have produced series of photographs from: Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Cuba, France, Spain, Morocco and most recently Italy. My photographs are often mistaken for my paintings and I've found a continuing symbiosis between them.
I play with colour in both my painting and my photography, sometimes its absence excites me, and sometimes I have a visceral need of dark intensity but the combination is always emotionally charged and certainly stems from my now inbuilt childhood concerns to find my space within the chaos of home. Ultimately, this binary relationship with colour or its absence leads to a longing to find an emotive and visual balance within the work which I hope, will in turn speak to the viewer’s own sensate experience.
In both my painting and photography I’m seeking to find a topography that is wholly mine, formed out of past chaos, present state of mind and future expectations”.
Originally trained as a Fine Artist, graduating with a First Class BA Honours Degree, she went on to Chelsea College of Art to study Set Design, leading to a 25-year career Production Designing a multitude of sets and stages for the likes of David Bowie, Kylie, Robbie Williams, “Shooting Stars” with Vic and Bob, the original Albert Square for “Eastenders” and Art Direction for Richard Eyres on "Insurance Man", Alan Bennett's Drama for BBC.
She returned to her full time Art practice in 2007.
Since then she has exhibited in galleries and art fairs in the UK, Denmark, Italy and France, has completed commissions in The Middle East, Belgium, London and the USA, has had her work featured on set of numerous British Television dramas and has been selected to show at the Royal West Academy Photography Open in Bristol 2023, the ING Discerning Eye 2023 at The Mall Galleries London and the 2024 Royal Academy Summer Show and again at the RWA in 2025.
In 2024/ 25 she collaborated with Glen Scotia Whisky, part of the Loch Lomond Group Glasgow, to produce a commissioned painting for their 50 year old whisky release in 2025.
Parr has also lectured in art and design in various colleges including Chelsea College of Art and Nottingham University.Her works are held in numerous collections Worldwide including Keble College Oxford, Director of Jestico + Whiles Architects London, President of the Boston's Children's Museum USA, Senior Economist Goldman Sachs, Argentex and Vedanta Headquarters in London, to name but a few.
She now lives and works in both Devon and London’s East End.
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1982 - 1983 · Design for Television - Chelsea College of Art, London
1979 - 1980 · PGCADE - Middlesex Poly, London
1976 - 1979 · 1st Class BA Honours Degree in Fine Art - Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry
1975 - 1976 · Foundation Course - Exeter College of Art
b.1957 · Exeter, Devon, UK
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2026 - The viewing room Sandra Higgins Gallery Bath
2025 - 26 Courting Colour Sandra Higgins Gallery Bath
2025 - RWA Bristol Secret Postcard Auction Exhibition Oct 28 - Nov 6
2025 - Cornucopia at Sandra Higgins Art, Milson Place Gallery, Bath
2025 - Selected for Royal Western Academy Artist Network members Exhibition
2025 - The Empire Bath, Sandra Higgins Art - 22nd Jan - 14th March.
2024 - Immersed and Imbued - One Paved Court, Richmond, London
2021/22/23/24 - HeArt- British Heart Foundation charity auction - online
2024 - Selected for the RA Summer Exhibition London
2024 - Selected to show at the SWA163rd Annual Exhibition The Mall Galleries London
2024 - Selected for VOW - Voice of a Woman - Art Fair at The Mall Galleries, London 23rd March
2024 - Photograph featuring on “Trigger Point” 2 - ITV UK
2024 - Work featuring on “Eastenders” for BBC
2024 - Beermats for Balls - Charity Auction for Testicular Cancer
2024 - Howard Hue Gallery Camden London
2023 - Selected ING Discerning Eye Exhibition - Mall Galleries London Nov 17th - 26th
2023/ 24 - Combat Stress Secret Postcard Auction - Bankside Gallery London and online
2023 - Selected for Royal Western Academy Artist Network Bristol
2023 - Selected to show at the SWA162nd Annual Exhibition The Mall Galleries London
2023 - Selected for Royal West of England Academy Photography Open Exhibition Bristol
2023 - Various Artworks featured on Breeders 4 Sky 1
2022 - Studio Muus Exhibition Thurlestone Hotel Kingsbridge Devon
2022 · Paintings on set of Chivalry, Steve Coogan’s new drama on Channel 4
2022 · Society of Women Artists 161st Annual Exhibition - The Mall Galleries Sept 7th - 11th
2022 · Various Pop up Exhibitions with The Archive Fine Art
2022 · “Transition Dreams” June 9th - July 15th Giardi Gallery Saint-Etienne France
2021 / 22 · Winter group show at Linden Hall Studio Deal, Kent
2021 · "Satellites" - Group show at Rise Art Gallery, Soho, London
2021 · "Memory palace" Group show at Irving Contemporary, Oxford
2021 · The Stratford Gallery 62 High Street Broadway, WR12 7DT
2020 - 2021 · Gallery Artists group show The Archive Fine Art 14 The Guild Salisbury
2020 - 2021 · Paintings on set of "This Way Up! 2 for Channel 4
2019 - 2021 · SWA 158th Annual Exhibition Mall Galleries London 159th and 160th (online) Sep 21st - Dec 31st 2021
2020 - 2021 · Paintings and Photography on set of SKY Production "Breeders" series 1 & 2 starring Martin Freeman
2020 · Group show The Irving Gallery, Oxford
2020 · Paintings on set of "Flack" on W UK and Pop US
2020 · "Art for the Earth” Fund raising Exhibition for Weald Action Group ( online )
2020 · Chaiya Art Awards Exhibition (online)
2019 · Group show Renata Maiblum Gallery, Copenhagen, December
2019 · Brook Gallery Fresh Art Fair Ascot Racecourse 2019
2019 · Virginia Damtsa Gallery Group show
2019 · David Lolly Gallery - AAF Battersea London
2018 · Boecho Gallery London - Christmas show
2018 · 100% Design Fair - Brook Gallery with Art Haus at Olympia Grand London
2018 · Summer show, The Stratford Gallery
2018 · Online Exhibition at Artsy with David Lolly Gallery
2018 · Fresh Art Fair Cheltenham with Brook Contemporary
2018 · “The Blues” Boecho Gallery London
2018 · Shortlisted for The Chaiya Art Awards OXO Gallery, London
2018 · Paintings on set of new BBC Production staring Martin Freeman in 2020
2017 · Christmas show Candida Stevens Gallery
2017 · Christmas / Jan 18 show The Stratford Gallery Stratford Upon Avon
2017 · Candida Stevens Gallery, The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
2017 · Brook Contemporary Budleigh Salterton, Fresh Art Fair Cheltenham
2017 · "The Land" Candida Stevens Gallery Chichester
2017 · "Beyond the real" The Stratford Gallery Stratford Upon Avon
2016 · Artdog Gallery Edinburgh Art Fair, Hampstead AAF, Manchester Buy Art Fair
2015 · "Kind of Blue" Candida Stevens Fine Art, Chichester
2015 · "Driven to Abstraction" Atom Gallery, London
2014 · Thomas and Paul Gallery Collection and Mixed Media Summer show, Little Venice, London
2014 · Paintings and Photographs on set - David Hares BBC 2 Drama Woricker - Salting the Battlefield
2013 · "An abstract view" Thomas and Paul Gallery Little Venice London
2013 - 2015 · AAF Battersea London Skylark Artist Collective
2011 - 2013 · The Other Art Fair, Ambika P3, The Truman Brewery, The Bargehouse London
2013 · Paintings on set, Ben Elton series The Wright Way BBC1
2011 - 2013 · Painting on set, Holby City BBC1
2010 · Artswipe Gallery Remasters, London
2007 - 2014 · Sandra Higgins Fine Art London
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2024/25 - Partnership and Painting Commission with Glen Scotia Whisky, Loch Lomond Group, for their very special release in 2025.
2023 - Painting “Waiting for everything and nothing” selected to feature on Album CD cover.
2022 · Collaboration - Tsivrikos Shake Gallery ( Neon Gallery ) London
2021 · Commission of four large works at Neon Gallery, London for Squire & Partners, London
2019 · Two Artist show "Deceived with Ornament" - Renata Maiblum Gallery, Copenhagen
2019 · Solo Show "Night Fishing" David Lolly Gallery, Cambridge
2018 · Solo Show "Casting Off" Brook Contemporary, Budleigh Salterton, Devon
2018 · Commission Belmond Cadogan Hotel London for The Royal suite - Artefact Hotel Consultants
2018 · Commission Belgium - Artefact Hotel Consultants
2017 · Commission for two large works for the Middle East - Artefact Hotel Consultants
2014 · Solo Show Candida Stevens Gallery, Chichester
2013 · Four paintings purchased by Keble College, Oxford permanent collection
2012 - 2014 · Devon Open Studios
2009 · Solo Show - Coningsby Gallery, London
2009 - 2010 · Artist in Residence · Ravenscourt School and Technology College, London
2007 · Four Walls Gallery, Brighton
1981 · Performance "Eat me drink me" Spacex Gallery Exeter - Arts Council England grant funded
1981 · Performance "Chocolate" Heaven, London
1980 · Performance "Walking with Ducks" Middlesex Polytechnic, London
1980 · Performance "The Line" The Drill Hall, London
1980 · Performance "Not enough room to swing a cat in here" Waterloo Gallery London - Arts Council England grant funded
1980 - 1983 · Various large scale murals, London
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2006 · The World Cup Travel and Studio Sets, BBC
2004 · Euro Travel and Studio Sets, BBC
2005 - 2007 · World Snooker Championships, BBC
2003 - 2007 - BBC Sport, Match of the Day etc Main Studio Set
2002 - 2006 · Mercury Music Prize, BBC
2003 · Lesley Garrett In Concert
2003 · Julie Walters BAFTA tribute, BBC
2000/2002 · The Royal Variety Performance, BBC
1994 - 2001 · The Stand Up Show, BBC
2001 · Russel Watson In Concert, BBC
2001 · Dale Winton’s Christmas Lottery Cracker, BBC
1997 - 2000 · Goodness Gracious Me, BBC
2000 · Music Live, BBC
1999 · The Brit Awards, ITV
1998 · Is It Bill Bailey?, BBC
1998 · Over The Limit - Bob Monkhouse 70th Birthday Special, BBC
1995 - 1997 · Shooting Stars, BBC
1996/1997 · All Rise For Julian Clarey, BBC
1995 - 1997 · Children In Need, BBC
1996 · The Girlie Show, Channel 4
1996 · Eurovision, BBC
1996 · Parkinson at Christmas, BBC
1992 - 1993 · Grange Hill, BBC
1984 - 1986 · Eastenders - Original Design of Albert Square and Studio Sets, BBC
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2005 · Visualisation and Design, 17-7 · The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
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2003 · Television Production Set Design Consultant · Turkish Radio and Television, Istanbul, Turkey
1996 - 2007 · Freelance Production Set Designer BBC, Channel 4, ITV
1994 - 1996 · Senior Production Set Designer for Television · BBC Television London
1983 - 1994 · Production Set Designer for Television · BBC Television London
1990 - 1991 · Teaching Design for Television · Chelsea College of Art
1988 · Teaching Design for Television · Nottingham University
1986 · Teaching Design for Television · London College of Fashion
1980 - 1983 · Teaching A level Art and Design · Southgate College London
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. COVART Project Book published by Copelouzos Family Art Museum Athens Greece
· Where is God in our 21st Century World
· The Independent Review
· Homes and Gardens
· Tallulah Art and Design Journal
· The Londonist
· Discover Art
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· Keble College, Oxford (Permanent Art Collection)
· Senior Economist Goldman Sachs, London
· President Boston Children’s Museum USA (Private Collection)
· Director Jestico + Whiles Architects, London (Private Collection)
· The Belmond Cadogan Hotel Sloane Street, London (Collection of female Artists)
· William Gaminara (Actor - Leo - Silent Witness BBC) and Kate Locke, London (Private Collection)
· Kate Buffery (Actress and voice of Digital Switchover) London (Private Collection )
· Vedanta Resources Ltd Berkley Square, London
· Argentex Headquarters, London
Art Salon - Hamburg Germany, says of Parr’s painting and photography :
“British painter and photographer Gina Parr dissolves the boundary between her two disciplines. Her photographs appear like abstract paintings, but nevertheless show representational objects, surfaces and structures from the real world. Her paintings, quite similarly and at the same time in strong contrast, appear at first glance like macro shots of crystalline structures as one would expect to find in nature.”
“Parr's poetic works challenge our conventional perception on multiple layers. They leave the interpretation to the viewer, making evident that the difference between abstraction and representation is a question of perspective, expressing more our judgment and interpretation than an indisputable observation. They address the viewer's imagination and provide the impetus to read not only the paintings and photographs, but also the many discoveries in everyday life, with an open mind and in ever new ways.”
Kate Reeve-Edwards, Art Writer, Cultural Capital Arts, says of Parr’s painting :
“The luminous illusory nature of Gina Parr’s work is intangible in terms of its relationship to place, yet it calls out loudly to the viewer’s inner landscape. This dreamy, slightly melancholic quality harmonizes with what she herself is exploring within their portents, ‘the notion that we are all formed by our personal journeys, our experiences, and our relationships’. Her paintings are hypnotic, providing a veil into the misty underworld of the subconscious that we are gently seduced into.”
“Parr’s work asserts itself as both a window and an object, calling our attention to the application, tertiary colour palette, the bleeding marks that lead our eye around the space, the bold chiaroscuro. All this ensures the presence of human touch grounds us to the beauty of the object, stopping us from floating off entirely into a misty reverie.”
@investinherart, Instagram, says of Parr’s painting :
“Interdisciplinary, abstract artist Gina Parr (b. 1957) expresses the broad experiences of womanhood through her work. With a strong and distinctive colour palate, Parr’s compositions emote the experiences that she has lived and explores—the repeated challenges that women regularly face of being marginalized and stereotyped. Parr’s paintings are skillful yet organic, presenting unique and confident line work and a master’s knowledge of mediums.”
Renata Maiblum, Art Consultant, Copenhagen, says of Parr’s photography :
“Parr’s approach is a microcosm of surface, fragments of diversity founded on variety of exteriors; some human made, others adopting form by natural causes. Their very strong presence lends them the appearance of enlarged particles, those vibrant atoms of the country. The images exist by themselves, without need for definitions or description and, with their tactile and lively texture, seem as paintings.” Parr removes from the viewers the possibility of knowing what the images really are; and her practice is to expose a world of illusions where the viewer self experiences the works purely by their visuality and not by their predeterminate definitions.”
Sophie Heatley at Rise Art - Interview with Gina Parr, March 2025:
We caught up with Gina Parr to explore the inspirations and intentions behind her latest work and her creative journey. Describing her art as a "pot pourri of experiences," she crafts pieces that seem to simultaneously expand and contract—a process of releasing darkness while making space for joy. Through her work, she navigates the complexities of a traumatic childhood, transforming emotion into visual expression.
Anselm Kiefer once said, “Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.” For Gina Parr, that is both a challenge and a calling. In her pursuit to render the unspoken, to explore the tension between what is seen and what is felt, her paintings become not literal representations of place or time, but rather instinctive portrayals of internal landscapes. With their rich textures and emotional depth, they hold the resonance of experiences without defining or justifying them: fragments of memory, echoes of grief, and the physical density of longing.
Parr’s artistic journey is one shaped as much by life as by practice. A former set designer for BBC television, she spent 25 years working to briefs; creating immersive, fictional environments for others to perform in. Now, she paints another kind of space—one uniquely her own, far from fiction, yet always one step shy of the truth. “It’s a quest, in effect, to design the space that I was denied as a child,” she says.
Parr speaks candidly about how her early life continues to shape her work. The death of her father when she was 17, and her mother’s hoarding disorder, remain central forces. She recalls the calm of fishing with her father interwoven with a sense of unease—brief, peaceful escapes from the turmoil at home. That same tension runs through her work: a thoughtful balance between peace and turbulence.
Upon observation, I have the unusual sensation that Parr’s work is expanding and contracting at the same time; the swell and suction of ocean on coast; the ominous pause between lightning strike and thunderclap. There’s this feeling that something has happened, is happening, and is yet to come—a powerful evocation of trauma’s circular, ever-present nature. It is important to note here that, in 2004, Parr ran from the Boxing Day Tsunami with her family. They all survived. Her work loops through memory, always close yet never fully within reach. This experience of rupture—of life split into before and after—has profoundly shaped her understanding of space, both physical and emotional. These paintings suggest that absence is not a void, but charged: a presence in its own right, echoing what was, or what might have been.
In this way, her work becomes a cathartic mapping of emotional topographies—a wandering through internal landscapes to understand, to resolve, to find reason in the foggy aftermath of pain and heartache. There’s a distinct duality at play. Parr often speaks of balancing excess with restraint, of paintings that oscillate between “clutter and clear.” It is within this constant flux that she finds meaning, pushing beyond comfort to reach something raw and truthful.
Although Parr draws much inspiration from the natural world, there’s a habitual mark- making that is less from external observation and more from gazing within. “There’s a need and a comfort in repeating images, to make patterns.” Perhaps reflective of the human impulse to revisit old wounds and longings as a way to understand or, in many cases, to hold onto something we’re not quite ready to let go of. “I’ll never find a solution to that childhood trauma but I’m driven everyday to creatively pursue it.”
Photography is a natural extension of Parr’s painting. When she’s traveling or away from the canvas, the camera becomes her brush. “I’m always looking at walls, sides of boats and other interesting surfaces… just stuff in the urban sprawl. I’m searching for paintings in those surfaces. The connection is that I’m looking for a chimerical space that already exists – whether created by weather, by humans, by graffiti, or by some serendipitous weatheration”
These photographs are not merely studies; they are cousins of her paintings – born from the same impulse to find meaning in surface, memory in matter. There is an element of chance in each frame, of having stumbled upon something quietly sacred. The artist relishes this unpredictability – both in photographing what the universe happens to place in her path, and in those moments during painting when something unexpected emerges unbidden.
“I often think about Picasso and that quote about spending our entire lives trying to paint like the children we once were – uninhibited.” Though her work draws on past experiences, Parr still longs to “get back to the freshness, the wonderful gut reaction to creating something.” That instinctive response brings lightness, joy, and relief to her practice – it’s not all darkness and discomfort. I actually have a joyous relationship with the canvas. Everything I’m thinking, feeling – all my movements – go into that canvas. I’m so in that space, so immersed in the process. And there are flashes, as I’m working through it, where I get the feeling that it’s going to be okay.”
Each of her pieces is a journey, a wrestling match between the perfectionist’s instinct to tidy and the artist’s need to leave marks raw, exposed. The result is work that feels alive: layered, searching, and suspended between resolution and unrest. “Painting is a battle between controlled intention and spontaneity,” she reflects. “I guess I’m looking towards the end of each painting, for it to feel right—pictorially and emotionally.”
The Portuguese word saudade—that ineffable ache for something lost—comes to mind when Parr describes the heart of her practice. Her paintings are not limited to grief or trauma, but they are informed by them, shadowed by longing and illuminated by moments of relief. “It’s a balance between longing and love,” she says. Her work speaks not of resolution but of movement: inching forward, circling back, daring always to be brave in the light of her past.