Hans Eijkelboom: Paris-New York-Shanghai

by Martin Parr (Photographer), Tony Godfrey (Introduction), Hans Eijkelboom (Photographer)

Dutch conceptual artist Hans Eijkelboom's work is very much in line with the deadpan, seemingly mechanistic note-taking of Ed Ruscha and Hans-Peter Feldman. In "Paris-New York-Shanghai," Eijkelboom creates a witty comparative study of three major contemporary metropolises, each selected for having been the cultural capital of its time--Paris during the nineteenth century; New York, the twentieth; and Shanghai, the twenty-first.
This uniquely bound three-volume accordion-folded set opens up to allow the reader not only to view each city individually, but also to compare simultaneously the three photographic studies of each metropolis and its citizens. The large-format cityscapes with the identifying quirks of each city and the snapshot-style grids of their inhabitants soon reveal how similar one city is to another today. For example, Eijkelboom's grids of mothers carrying their infants in Baby Bjorns, or men wearing striped polo shirts highlight the ubiquity of many of our most intimate possessions. As Eijkelboom writes, "Globalization, combined with the desire of cities for visually spectacular elements, is leading to the appearance everywhere of city centers that look the same and where identical products are sold." With an introduction by Martin Parr.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Martin Parr was born in Epsom, Surrey, UK in 1952. When he was a boy, his budding interest in the medium of photography was encouraged by his grandfather George Parr, himself a keen amateur photographer.

Parr studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic, from 1970-1973. Since that time, Martin Parr has worked on numerous photographic projects. He has developed an international reputation for his innovative imagery, his oblique approach to social documentary, and his input to photographic culture within the UK and abroad.

In 1994 he became a full member of Magnum Photographic Corporation. In recent years, he has developed an interest in filmmaking, and has started to use his photography within different conventions, such as fashion and advertising.

In 2002 the Barbican Art Gallery and the National Media Museum initiated a large retrospective of Parr's work. This show toured Europe for the next 5 years.

Parr was appointed Professor of Photography in 2004 at The University of Wales Newport campus. He was Guest Artistic Director for Rencontres D'Arles in 2004. In 2006 he was awarded the Erich Salomon Prize and the resulting Assorted Cocktail show opened at Photokina. In 2008 he was guest curator at the New York Photo Festival, curating the New Typologies exhibition. At PhotoEspana, 2008, he won the Baume et Mercier award in recognition of his professional career and contributions to contemporary photography.