"Art Galleries refuse to show my photographs as art," said poor old Martin Parr in yesterday's Times. Look at this picture, and see if you can tell why.
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Taken by Martin Parr at New Brighton, Merseyside in the 1980s
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Now why would an art gallery not put that up on its wall? The reason is this : it's horrible! People want to look at pleasant things of beauty at the art gallery. They can see scenes like this - not that they enjoy the sight - in their own homes any morning when the housework needs doing and the rubbish taking out. This picture is a total failure. Again he has missed most of one of the subjects (the baby's mother at the left hand side); he didn't bother to clear up any of that litter; there's a frightful pillar with a dust bin on it, cutting the picture nearly in two; people should NOT be photographed when they're eating; and the woman on the right seems to have a lamppost or something dangling from her wrist. I CAN NOT understand how anyone could deem this art. It's just a horrid picture of an unpleasant tableau. Mr Parr said disapprovingly in the Times' article, that people fill their photo albums with pictures of people looking smiley in nice locations. Well well! That's because we prefer to see NICE THINGS! Think on this, Parr-y baby.
To show that I am not unreasonable I am putting in this picture, 'Hebden Bridge (1976)'. Surprisingly, Martin Parr took this one as well, and I think it's jolly good. It's of an intriguing incident, and he managed to get the main subject in the centre for once (although I would have moved the doorway slightly down and to the left, for perfection). There's no complicated background, the wall and doorframe enhance rather than distract, and the pavement and road surface are lovely. It shows that even M Parr can take a decent photo sometimes. He simply needs to use more discernment in choosing which ones to discard - that Merseyside one above for instance. Do a bit (a lot actually) of judicious editing Mr Parr, and then see whether the art galleries are more interested.
To show that I am not unreasonable I am putting in this picture, 'Hebden Bridge (1976)'. Surprisingly, Martin Parr took this one as well, and I think it's jolly good. It's of an intriguing incident, and he managed to get the main subject in the centre for once (although I would have moved the doorway slightly down and to the left, for perfection). There's no complicated background, the wall and doorframe enhance rather than distract, and the pavement and road surface are lovely. It shows that even M Parr can take a decent photo sometimes. He simply needs to use more discernment in choosing which ones to discard - that Merseyside one above for instance. Do a bit (a lot actually) of judicious editing Mr Parr, and then see whether the art galleries are more interested.
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