Martin Firrell | Catalogue Raisonné | The Billboards

The Billboards 1996-2024

Embrace Lesbianism and Overthrow the Social Order,

Martin Firrell is a public artist who has gently & consistently sought to humanise the times we live in.

Stevie Spring, Chair
British Council
2019-2022

Conservation of Ephemeral Works

Conserving Non-Objects

Dr Robert Shelton,
Executive Editor

Artistic Processes & Preocupations

Curatorial Observations
& Insights

Using the Catalogue

Cataloguing Conventions
& Navigation

Milestone Events
& Influences

Stevie Spring, Chair
British Council
2019-2022

Using the Catalogue

Cataloguing Conventions
& Navigation

Artistic Processes & Preocupations

Curatorial Observations
& Insights

Dr Robert Shelton,
Executive Editor

Conservation of Ephemeral Works

Conserving Non-Objects

Milestone Events
& Influences

Stevie Spring, Chair
British Council
2019-2022

Dr Robert Shelton,
Executive Editor

Using the Catalogue

Cataloguing Conventions
& Navigation

Conservation of Ephemeral Works

Conserving Non-Objects

Artistic Processes & Preocupations

Curatorial Observations
& Insights

Milestone Events
& Influences

Self Portrait (on Fire Island),

2021

2021.7

Lucid Between Bouts of Sanity

Then That Other Thing Happens

Touch the Backs of Boys' Heads

Never Confuse Love with Owning a Dog

A Stronger Self

Untitled (Old Samsung Sign)

Cock Sucked £15

Untitled (Curzon Trailer)

Power Is Always Temporary

Nathan Fillion & Sigourney Weaver Complete Hero

Cómo Vivimos / How We Live

Being Gay and Masculinity Is Something I've had To Try and Balance (All Identity Is Constructed)

Embrace Lesbianism and Overthrow the Social Order

Renounce the Monster Male and his Mission of Violent Oppression

Embrace Lesbianism / Reject Male Supremacy / Overthrow the Social Order / Renounce the Monster Male

When Men Hold Power They Abuse It

Women Make Up Half the Population: 50% of the Time the Right Person for the Job Must Be a Woman

It's Easy To Be Angry It's Harder To Be Sad or Afraid

Men Are Really Great

When the State Turns Violent People of Moral Conscience Find It Unbearable

Any Society that Ignores Its Own Flaws Is Immoral

Equality for Women Workers

From Capitalist Society to Cooperative Society

Identity Is a Fiction that Helps Us Feel Real to Ourselves (Black)

Untitled (Fernsehturm Berlin)

War Is Always a Failure

Billboard on the Highway: Control Your Anger

Your Seed Atom Enters a New Body with Each Incarnation

I Love You Alice B. Toklas

Blau Trägt All Die Sehnsucht, Zu Der Ein Mensch Fähig Ist, In Sich

Orange Bietet Andere Realitäten Zwischen Rot Und Gelb

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Girl on Girl)

Grau Ist Ein Mehrdeutiges Niemandsland, Ein Halbwissen

Die Chromatika/The Chromatika, Eine psychologische Farbenlehre für das 21. Jahrhundert/A psychological theory of colour for the 21st Century

I've Got Nothing Against Gays I Just Don't Want It Shoved Down my Throat

The American Dream

Gay Sex Will Be Celebrated (Jocks)

Valerie Solanas Shoots Artist, Cries 'I Controlled His Life'

Daytime TV Made Me Lesbian

Art Is Our Protest Against this Reality

Reason Is a Hoax

1990s: Church Homophobia

What Oppresses Us Shapes Our Desires

Valora la Belleza de la Justicia por Encima de Todo (Madrid)

Verdsett Rettferdighetens Skjønnhet Over Alt Annet (Oslo)

Cuir Luach Ar Áilleacht Na Córa Thar Gach Uile Ní (Dublin)

Value The Beauty of Justice Above All Else (Helsinki)

Look at Life Squarely and Forgive It for What It Is (London)

Pārkāp Visus Noteikumus, Kas Ir Cietsirdīgi Un Netaisnīgi (Riga)

He Called Us Leaders in Frocks To Undermine Us. It Didn't Work

Women from Northeast Lancashire Are Generally Regarded as Powerful

Your Power Over Me Is Perceived Not Real. I Don't Accept It. It Doesn't Exist

The First Woman on the Mir Space Station Set Off from Sheffield

Gender Non Conforming

Embrace All Varieties (Flag)

Tout ce que je ne sais pas est inimaginable, existant dans un lieu inimaginable

Alles wat ik niet ken is onvoorstelbaar, bestaat op een onvoorstelbare plaats

Cartwheel Pont des Arts Paris

You Stay Late into the Afternoon

Glitter Ball, Leicester Square

Why Settle for a Happy Medium When You Can Have a Happy Extreme?

Never Travel Economy

Never Fall for Someone with a Body To Diet For

A Subterranean Sadness

The One Irreducible Truth About Humanity Is Diversity

I Want To Live in a City Where

Comprendre Quelque Chose Pleinement, C'est Pouvoir N'En Rien Dire

All Identity Is Constructed

I'm Not Who Everyone Thinks I Am (All Identity Is Constructed)

Overturn the Ideology of Hetero Male Supremacy

Sexual Revolutionaries Demand Freedom from Sexist Gender Roles

Gender Think-In

Distorted Power and Great Inequality Are Evil

All Power Is Temporary

The Great Heroes Have Always Wept Without Being Thought Unmanly

It's Back to the Burt Reynolds Days of the 1970s

Protest Is Liberty's Ally

All Members of Society Are Equal None Lower None higher

Safety at Work 5 Day Week Family Allowance

Protest Is Liberty's Ally

Identity Is a Fiction that Helps Us Feel Real to Ourselves (White)

A Flying Saucer Will Deliver an Important Message

Living Peacefully Is a Radical Political Position

War Is Coming Between Man and Machine

Telepathic Transit Opens Between the Earth and the Moon

Rot Reist Am Leichtesten Durch Die Heisse, Dünne Atmosphäre

Grün Ist Immer Noch Wild, Wie Die Beklemmenden Farnwälder Der Vorgeschichte

Violett Trägt Eine Bedrohliche Ähnlichkeit Mit «Violent» In Sich

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Arcadia)

Weiss Ist Das Schmucklose Nicht-Sein Eines Freien, Leeren Geistes

If We Are Serious About this Land We Will Learn from our First Nations

At a Urinal I prefer Someone To Take the Stall Further Away

If You Get Your Information Here Leave It Here

The Closet Will Be Empty

Patty Hearst Arrested 'Don't Go, I'll Shoot with You'

How To Be Popular

Civil Servant Made Me Queer

Cancel Nationalism Cancel National Languages

1970s: Police Harassment

2000s: Anti-Gay Laws Persist

Actress Shoots Andy Warhol/Valerie Solanas Shoots Artist

Værdsæt Retfærdighedens Skønhed Over Alt Andet (Copenhagen)

Novērtē Taisnīguma Skaistumu Vairāk Par Visu (Riga)

Värdesätt Rättvisans Skönhet Över Allt Annat (Stockholm)

Prize the Beauty of Justice Above All Else (London)

Paraugies Dzīvei Acīs Un Piedod Tai (Riga)

Be Kind to Trees (London)

Fall Down 7 Times, Stand Up 8

People Can Eat You Up. I Like To Choose Who Eats Me

Self Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (on Fire Island)

Britain's First Astronaut Went Where No Woman Has Gone Before

Une moule à lèvres bleues s'ouvre et révèle un cheval

Een blauwlipmossel opent zich en onthult een paard

The First Manifesto of Surrealism

You Drink but You Don't Become Drunk

2001.1.3

Take Me, Make Me Mad

Learn To Love Rain

Always Talk to Strangers, the Stranger the Better

14 Pieces of Erotica for February 14

Where Are We Going?

Touch Me Inappropriately

All Men Are Dangerous

How Ironic To Live in Fear of Terrorism and Die Because of Climate Change

The Question Mark Inside

Ten Thousand Years of Lana Wachowski (Lana wansuì)

I Am an Albino (All Identity Is Constructed)

And Anti-War Messages (Fires Modern)

Homosexuals and Women Are Systematically Oppressed by Male Supremacist Society

Society Is Still Dominated at Every Level by Men: End the Gender Role System Now

Ugly Sweaty Men Become CEOs All the Time. Ugly Sweaty Women Don't

The Simple Idea that Opportunity Is Available to All Women Is a Lie

All Men Are Dangerous

A Good Man is Sober with Responsibility not Drunk on Power

April 1979 Blair Peach Loses his Life Opposing Racism

Socialism Is a Moral Idea

Secure Employment and Wage Justice

Progress Education Science Art

Sometimes I Don't Feel Ethnic Enough

Any Word Used to Hurt or Humiliate Is Obscene

The Earth's Crust Is Almost Exhausted

Any Word Used To Hurt or Humiliate Is Obscene

Computers Control and Manipulate Opinion

Get Ready for the Unfoldment of Super Consciousness

Gelb Ist Ein Beispiel Für Glück, Das Zu Seinem Eigenen Ende Eilt

Indigo Trotzt Der Vermessung, Wie Das Gleichförmige Schwarz-Blau Des Pazifiks

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Moustache & Leopard Skin)

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Three Men, Naked)

Schwarz Ist Die Schwerkraft, Die Diese Strahlende Welt Zusammenhält

It's Better To Be Anything But a straight White Man Right Now (Karl in Drag)

For Christ's Sake

Gay Sex Will Be Celebrated (Cherokee)

Men Will Take Up Less Space

Self Portrait (on Fire Island)

Apollo Packet Turned Me Gay

Cod Wars Turned Me Gay

Art Cannot Submit to Any Outside Control

1980s: Aids & Section 28

2010s: Transphobia

Patty Hearst, 'Don't Shoot, I'll Go With You'/'Don't Go, I'll Shoot With You'

Appréciez avant tout la beauté de la justice (Aix-en-Provence)

Doceniaj Piękno Sprawiedliwości ponad Wszystko (Warsaw)

Waardeer Boven Alles De Schoonheid Van Rechtvaardigheid (Utrecht)

Regardez la vie en face et pardonnez-lui pour ce qu'elle est (Paris)

Disobey Any Cruel or Unjust Rule (London)

Esiet Mīli Pret Kokiem (Riga)

Polite and Obedient Is No Way To Correct a Power Imbalance

Coming Out Makes You Fearless. It's a Super Power

Britain's First Astronaut Preferred Women's Underwear

Lorsque la dernière orchidée sauvage est cultivée, l'orchidée sauvage n'existe plus

Als de laatste wilde orchidee gecultiveerd is, bestaat de wilde orchidee niet meer

Lucid Between Bouts of Sanity

You Stay Late into the Afternoon

Take Me, Make Me Mad

Why Settle for a Happy Medium When You Can Have a Happy Extreme?

Touch the Backs of Boys' Heads

Always Talk to Strangers, the Stranger the Better

Never Fall for Someone with a Body To Diet For

A Stronger Self

Where Are We Going?

Untitled (Old Samsung Sign)

Touch Me Inappropriately

The One Irreducible Truth About Humanity Is Diversity

Untitled (Curzon Trailer)

How Ironic To Live in Fear of Terrorism and Die Because of Climate Change

Ten Thousand Years of Lana Wachowski (Lana wansuì)

All Identity Is Constructed

Being Gay and Masculinity Is Something I've had To Try and Balance (All Identity Is Constructed)

And Anti-War Messages (Fires Modern)

Overturn the Ideology of Hetero Male Supremacy

Renounce the Monster Male and his Mission of Violent Oppression

Society Is Still Dominated at Every Level by Men: End the Gender Role System Now

Gender Think-In

When Men Hold Power They Abuse It

The Simple Idea that Opportunity Is Available to All Women Is a Lie

All Power Is Temporary

It's Easy To Be Angry It's Harder To Be Sad or Afraid

A Good Man is Sober with Responsibility not Drunk on Power

It's Back to the Burt Reynolds Days of the 1970s

When the State Turns Violent People of Moral Conscience Find It Unbearable

Socialism Is a Moral Idea

All Members of Society Are Equal None Lower None higher

Equality for Women Workers

Progress Education Science Art

Protest Is Liberty's Ally

Identity Is a Fiction that Helps Us Feel Real to Ourselves (Black)

Any Word Used to Hurt or Humiliate Is Obscene

A Flying Saucer Will Deliver an Important Message

War Is Always a Failure

Any Word Used To Hurt or Humiliate Is Obscene

War Is Coming Between Man and Machine

Your Seed Atom Enters a New Body with Each Incarnation

Get Ready for the Unfoldment of Super Consciousness

Rot Reist Am Leichtesten Durch Die Heisse, Dünne Atmosphäre

Blau Trägt All Die Sehnsucht, Zu Der Ein Mensch Fähig Ist, In Sich

Indigo Trotzt Der Vermessung, Wie Das Gleichförmige Schwarz-Blau Des Pazifiks

Violett Trägt Eine Bedrohliche Ähnlichkeit Mit «Violent» In Sich

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Girl on Girl)

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Three Men, Naked)

Weiss Ist Das Schmucklose Nicht-Sein Eines Freien, Leeren Geistes

Die Chromatika/The Chromatika, Eine psychologische Farbenlehre für das 21. Jahrhundert/A psychological theory of colour for the 21st Century

It's Better To Be Anything But a straight White Man Right Now (Karl in Drag)

At a Urinal I prefer Someone To Take the Stall Further Away

The American Dream

Gay Sex Will Be Celebrated (Cherokee)

The Closet Will Be Empty

Valerie Solanas Shoots Artist, Cries 'I Controlled His Life'

Self Portrait (on Fire Island)

How To Be Popular

Daytime TV Made Me Lesbian

Cod Wars Turned Me Gay

Cancel Nationalism Cancel National Languages

Reason Is a Hoax

1980s: Aids & Section 28

2000s: Anti-Gay Laws Persist

What Oppresses Us Shapes Our Desires

Patty Hearst, 'Don't Shoot, I'll Go With You'/'Don't Go, I'll Shoot With You'

Værdsæt Retfærdighedens Skønhed Over Alt Andet (Copenhagen)

Verdsett Rettferdighetens Skjønnhet Over Alt Annet (Oslo)

Doceniaj Piękno Sprawiedliwości ponad Wszystko (Warsaw)

Värdesätt Rättvisans Skönhet Över Allt Annat (Stockholm)

Value The Beauty of Justice Above All Else (Helsinki)

Regardez la vie en face et pardonnez-lui pour ce qu'elle est (Paris)

Paraugies Dzīvei Acīs Un Piedod Tai (Riga)

Pārkāp Visus Noteikumus, Kas Ir Cietsirdīgi Un Netaisnīgi (Riga)

Esiet Mīli Pret Kokiem (Riga)

Fall Down 7 Times, Stand Up 8

Women from Northeast Lancashire Are Generally Regarded as Powerful

Coming Out Makes You Fearless. It's a Super Power

Self Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (on Fire Island)

The First Woman on the Mir Space Station Set Off from Sheffield

Embrace All Varieties (Flag)

Lorsque la dernière orchidée sauvage est cultivée, l'orchidée sauvage n'existe plus

Een blauwlipmossel opent zich en onthult een paard

Alles wat ik niet ken is onvoorstelbaar, bestaat op een onvoorstelbare plaats

Cartwheel Pont des Arts Paris

Then That Other Thing Happens

You Drink but You Don't Become Drunk

2001.1.3

Glitter Ball, Leicester Square

Learn To Love Rain

Never Travel Economy

Never Confuse Love with Owning a Dog

14 Pieces of Erotica for February 14

A Subterranean Sadness

Cock Sucked £15

All Men Are Dangerous

I Want To Live in a City Where

Power Is Always Temporary

The Question Mark Inside

Comprendre Quelque Chose Pleinement, C'est Pouvoir N'En Rien Dire

Cómo Vivimos / How We Live

I Am an Albino (All Identity Is Constructed)

I'm Not Who Everyone Thinks I Am (All Identity Is Constructed)

Embrace Lesbianism and Overthrow the Social Order

Homosexuals and Women Are Systematically Oppressed by Male Supremacist Society

Sexual Revolutionaries Demand Freedom from Sexist Gender Roles

Embrace Lesbianism / Reject Male Supremacy / Overthrow the Social Order / Renounce the Monster Male

Ugly Sweaty Men Become CEOs All the Time. Ugly Sweaty Women Don't

Distorted Power and Great Inequality Are Evil

Women Make Up Half the Population: 50% of the Time the Right Person for the Job Must Be a Woman

All Men Are Dangerous

The Great Heroes Have Always Wept Without Being Thought Unmanly

Men Are Really Great

April 1979 Blair Peach Loses his Life Opposing Racism

Protest Is Liberty's Ally

Any Society that Ignores Its Own Flaws Is Immoral

Secure Employment and Wage Justice

Safety at Work 5 Day Week Family Allowance

From Capitalist Society to Cooperative Society

Sometimes I Don't Feel Ethnic Enough

Identity Is a Fiction that Helps Us Feel Real to Ourselves (White)

Untitled (Fernsehturm Berlin)

The Earth's Crust Is Almost Exhausted

Living Peacefully Is a Radical Political Position

Billboard on the Highway: Control Your Anger

Computers Control and Manipulate Opinion

Telepathic Transit Opens Between the Earth and the Moon

I Love You Alice B. Toklas

Gelb Ist Ein Beispiel Für Glück, Das Zu Seinem Eigenen Ende Eilt

Grün Ist Immer Noch Wild, Wie Die Beklemmenden Farnwälder Der Vorgeschichte

Orange Bietet Andere Realitäten Zwischen Rot Und Gelb

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Moustache & Leopard Skin)

Homosexuals Are Still Revolting (Arcadia)

Grau Ist Ein Mehrdeutiges Niemandsland, Ein Halbwissen

Schwarz Ist Die Schwerkraft, Die Diese Strahlende Welt Zusammenhält

If We Are Serious About this Land We Will Learn from our First Nations

I've Got Nothing Against Gays I Just Don't Want It Shoved Down my Throat

For Christ's Sake

If You Get Your Information Here Leave It Here

Gay Sex Will Be Celebrated (Jocks)

Men Will Take Up Less Space

Patty Hearst Arrested 'Don't Go, I'll Shoot with You'

Apollo Packet Turned Me Gay

Civil Servant Made Me Queer

Art Is Our Protest Against this Reality

Art Cannot Submit to Any Outside Control

1970s: Police Harassment

1990s: Church Homophobia

2010s: Transphobia

Actress Shoots Andy Warhol/Valerie Solanas Shoots Artist

Valora la Belleza de la Justicia por Encima de Todo (Madrid)

Appréciez avant tout la beauté de la justice (Aix-en-Provence)

Novērtē Taisnīguma Skaistumu Vairāk Par Visu (Riga)

Cuir Luach Ar Áilleacht Na Córa Thar Gach Uile Ní (Dublin)

Waardeer Boven Alles De Schoonheid Van Rechtvaardigheid (Utrecht)

Prize the Beauty of Justice Above All Else (London)

Look at Life Squarely and Forgive It for What It Is (London)

Disobey Any Cruel or Unjust Rule (London)

Be Kind to Trees (London)

He Called Us Leaders in Frocks To Undermine Us. It Didn't Work

Polite and Obedient Is No Way To Correct a Power Imbalance

People Can Eat You Up. I Like To Choose Who Eats Me

Your Power Over Me Is Perceived Not Real. I Don't Accept It. It Doesn't Exist

Britain's First Astronaut Preferred Women's Underwear

Britain's First Astronaut Went Where No Woman Has Gone Before

Gender Non Conforming

Une moule à lèvres bleues s'ouvre et révèle un cheval

Tout ce que je ne sais pas est inimaginable, existant dans un lieu inimaginable

Als de laatste wilde orchidee gecultiveerd is, bestaat de wilde orchidee niet meer

The First Manifesto of Surrealism

This Catalogue
Raisonné

For Researchers & Art Historians

If Something Is Missing
or Wrong

On Freedom of Expression

How We Use Your Data

Reuse Images & Text
from this Catalogue

This Catalogue
Raisonné

How We Use
Your Data

On Freedom
of Expression

If Something Is Missing
or Wrong

For Researchers & Art Historians

Reuse Images & Text
from this Catalogue

This Catalogue
Raisonné

If Something Is Missing
or Wrong

How We Use Your Data

For Researchers & Art Historians

On Freedom of Expression

Reuse Images & Text
from this Catalogue

Martin Firrell, Boulevard St Michel, Paris France, 1998

b1998.4