What is ‘Common Sense’ all about?

‘Common Sense’ is a photo-book by Martin Parr, published in 1999. It is a collection of images he has took from the period 1995-99, looking at trends in British consumerism.

The images in this photo-book are extremely bright and colourful, and use the typical language of advertising, something which Parr has openly admitted to doing. The images are both attractive through their colour and vibrancy but at the same time are in many cases vulgar and grotesque.

The core principle of this book in my opinion is to explore through the language of advertising what a product looks like – in a more vulgar and perhaps realistic way then a company trying to advertise their product would dare intend to do – showing more how a product actually looks, then how it is manipulated to appear. Subsequently, it can be argued that Parr turns the theme of advertising on its head, by using the techniques of advertisers to show exactly what they don’t want to viewer to see.

 

What is it about Parr’s images which are so powerful?

Parr’s images in this book are so effective because of the fact that they poetic and make the viewer think and consider what they have seen – they are a form of visual poetry; Parr’s own unique way of looking at the world. One example of this can be seen through the way Parr has photographed a teapot. He uses his imagination to envision the connection between the shape of the teapot as being the same shape as an elephant tusk. Parr has subsequently created an image with these two similar shapes together, photographing a teapot in the foreground, and blurred out in the background, the inclusion of a blow-up elephant statue. He is therefore made a clever connection which is visually interesting to the viewer.

Furthermore, Parr achieves a sense of distinctness about his work through his style of  photographing close-up. In doing so, he subverts the traditional concept used in marketing that something is better when viewed from further back. Instead he shows objects in their fullest detail, which is often uncomplimentary and unattractive as a result. This style in many cases creates abstract images, and the viewer must use visual clues to determine what the object is that has been photographed. In this sense, Parr often confuses the viewer and forces them to read into the image to subtract the meaning behind it, adding a sense of uncertainty to the viewers visual journey.

Simplicity is key to Parr’s work in ‘Common Sense’. What he photographs is often very ordinary and basic, such as a close-up of an apple or many cigarette butts. Parr gets away with this highly simplistic style because of the way he photographs the object. Through the use of flash photography and other techniques such as manipulating natural lighting and photographing at an obscured abstract angle, Parr is able to ensure what he photographs is as visually interesting as possible, even if the context of what is photographed is simply not that exciting.

 

How important is colour in ‘Common Sense’?

Colour is a fundamental part of the images in ‘Common Sense’ because it enables Parr to make his images as vivid  as possible. Parr’s use of a ring flash means that his images are highly saturated, and therefore bright and colourful.  As this series of images shows, the more colourful the image, the more vulgar and visually aggressive it will appear. In many cases, the overly bright images go beyond reality, and are slightly surreal in appearance.

The effect colour creates visually is extremely powerful. Colour has he ability to alter the viewers emotional response to an image; for example red is known to resonate feelings of aggressiveness and anger. Parr’s subsequent use of sharp, luminous colours such as red, pink, orange and blue makes the viewer interpret images with a sense of urgency, as if the colours on the page are racing to the attention of the the viewer. These bright colours can be in many cases unwelcoming to a viewer, and when taken to the extreme, can be simply grotesque and repulsive, more example the of the extremely sunburned man’s chest.

The use of ring flash in this instance serves to enhance the redness of the chest, to the extent that it is simply vulgar and in many ways, unrealistic. This is contradictory to the expected intent of advertising images, which is to excitedly invite the consumer in. Whilst retaining a sense of energy, Parr goes essentially over the top  with colour saturation to the extent that the viewer is not attracted, but instead made to be repulsed.

 

What is your favourite bit about ‘Common Sense’? 

I think one of the most memorable and effective qualities about this body of work is Parr’s ability to link images together. Page by page, it is apparent that his images are inherently connected by certain patterns and themes, for example one page links a picture of Jesus with fish and another links birds and bread together – links between contrasting themes are also noticeable, for example a banana with a sugary doughnut; a contrast between healthy/unhealthy eating. Parr’s linking of images add a sense of interaction and fun to the images, as the viewer is invited to find and search for their own creative links.