I like what he does. I think some of Parr's photography (perhaps esp. The Last Resort, I am not familiar with his earlier work) traces its influences back to English saucy seaside postcards and a particular brand of humour unique to the British: one which relishes to recount the human folly, not so much as a means to teach humility, but rather in order to liberate from the preconceived rules of savoir faire. It is also intimately connected with a very British kind of understanding of 'embarrasment', an intense and uncomfortable feeling of self-consciousness. Looking at his photos one feels compelled to look and at the same time embarassed for doing so, perhaps for being all-too-aware that one could easily be the subject of his photographs.
Striped deck chairs, pebble beaches, Brighton rock, fish and chips, all topped by the English summer (lets call it that) are the props of a familiar landscape, ever so slightly past the best-before date.
His photography does not have the optimism or empathy of the masters of the past but it resonates with a kind of understanding of human nature that is almost unavoidable and certainly typical of our cynical times.
PS. Having lived in Brighton for three years some time ago, I find much of his work intensely familiar and realistic. Sometimes the strangest of times are the best of times.
