Rennes (AFP)

The FRAC de Bretagne in Rennes presents until January a large retrospective of the work of the Briton Martin Parr, called "Parrathon", which allows you to discover a quirky and derisive photographic work.

"We are very happy to offer this retrospective, the last in France dates back to 2005 at the European House of Photography" in Paris, welcomed Wednesday to AFP Etienne Bernard, director of the Regional Fund for Contemporary Art .

Due to the pandemic, the exhibition, which was to be held from mid-May to September, will finally be open to the public until January 24, before taking the road to Valencia in Spain. "This is one of the few major exhibitions opened in June in France," said Bernard.

Nearly 500 photographs of Martin Parr are thus proposed through 14 series, some very well known and which made its notoriety (Small world, on mass tourism in Venice or Athens), others more rare, like "The non conformists "in black and white from 1975.

The 68-year-old artist has captured funny scenes from everyday English life for more than four decades, like this child spread out on a towel in the shade of a construction machine on a concrete block in New Brighton .

"I love and hate England at the same time," said Martin Parr, 68, on France culture on Friday, confiding his bitterness on Brexit. "What I do in my photography is to capture this ambiguity (...) I want to be able to express the English contradictions: there is good taste and bad taste, and I try to mix the two in my photographs", he said.

And "nobody escapes his gaze, whatever their social class", notes Mr. Bernard in front of the "Luxury" series, where we observe the sometimes grotesque behavior of an international elite with social codes based on ostentation and appearance.

Witness to the evolution of his time, Parr, who has always been interested in self-portraits and does not hesitate to stage himself with self-mockery ("bored couples", bored couples) naturally interested in the practice of selfies, a globalized ritual (2015-19).

"Parrathon" should make it possible to increase attendance at the Frac, whose new building was designed by Odile Decq (2012), located away from the city center and which welcomes 30,000 people a year. "We need to endorse the idea that the Frac is, at least for the Rennes basin and the region, a great place for exhibitions," says Mr. Bernard, who arrived in the summer of 2019.

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