An intriguing art-project.
BORING POSTCARDS USA by Martin Parr has about 85 pages. Most of the pages contain the image of a postcard, but a few of the pages are blank (when the book is open, the blank page is on the left, and on the right page is a postcard). The pages are dull, not glossy. Most of the picture postcards are from businesses and corporations, such as motels, factories, and shopping centers. A perverted aspect of some of these pictures is that the most prominent aspect in the scene is the parking lot. The fact that a parking lot is the most prominent part of these pictures provides us with a message about the incompetence of the photographer (and really tells us not much about the actual business). That is the source of the perversion.
A few of the picture postcards show highways, e.g., in boring places such as Nebraska, Indiana, and Oklahoma.
Most of the images are truly boring. But from a perverted sort of perspective, the pictures are fascinating. WALNUT ROOM BUCKS RESTAURANT shows some wrinkled old people. The restaurant contains all the accoutrements of the up-to-date 1960s restaurant, that is, Formica and Naugahyde. The old people are especially boring, in view of the fact that they have white napkins spread over their laps. (Everybody knows that adults who spread napkins on their naps before sitting down for a meal are boring people.)
PIKE VIEW MOTEL shows a dreary motel. One quarter of the page is a parking lot. Two 1950s vintage automobiles are parked in the distance. Half of the image is a bland sky. Other motel postcards include, LINOAKS MOTEL, NELVA COURTS, FRIENDLY MOTEL, THUNDERBIRD MOTEL, COSMIC AGE LODGE, and these depict motel bedrooms. A bed dominates the room. Near the bed are small tables supporting large lamps. The rooms are all unnaturally neat. The overwhelming neatness is perverted, in that it might remind one of a corpse in a mortuary, waiting for a line of mourners.
Other postcards are perverted for other reasons. JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT has a reasonable image of the airport terminal, but the sky contains something shocking. The graphic artist who designed this postcard put a jet plane in the sky. The jet plane is in the process of landing. However, the angle of descent is an extreme angle. If the image was a real one, there is no question that the jet plane would crash within a half second.
More examples of perverted scenes arise from signs. What is perverted, is that the photographer and the restaurant owner really and truly believed that the postcard put the restaurant in a favorable light. But, in fact, the content of the postcard could do the exact opposite, that is, put the restaurent in a bad light. BLUE GRILL shows a shabby diner. The parking lot has two large potholes, each containing a huge puddle of water. On top of the Blue Grill restaurant is a huge sign reading, "FINE FOOD." Perhaps the sign is truthful, in that the food is merely "fine food" and is not something better, such as "great food" or "excellent food."
Also perverted is the postcard, THE VIRGINIAN RESTAURANT. This postcard shows the restaurant in the background, while the foreground features a large sign reading, "SPAGHETTI PIZZA." The way the sign is painted implies that one of the meals is called, "spaghetti pizza," and consists of a pizza pie covered with spaghetti noodles.
FIVE STARS for Martin Parr's fine book. Please also note that Mr.Parr has a portfolio of photographs called, BORING, OREGON. Mr.Parr has not published this particular portfolio. However, any tourist could easily create their own photographic portfolio when visiting this town. All of the pictures are from a town in Oregon called, "Boring." The pictures include business with signs reading, "Boring Florist," "Boring High School," and "Boring Sewage Plant." Actually, I went to Boring, Oregon and took snapshots of some of these businesses.
Of course, the town was not named because of any quality of boredom. The town was named after a German man. In fact, the town of Boring is in one of the most exciting areas in the United States of America. Nearby, is picturesque Mount Hood, which contains an excellent microbrewery situated on its slope. Also, nearby is the Columbia River and the magnificent Beacon Rock, as well as some of America's most phenomenal waterfalls. These waterfalls are almost in the same league as the waterfalls in Yosemite Valley, and the waterfalls on the island of Kauai.
A Very Boring Piece Of Americana
"Boring Postcards USA" is a great and amusing collection of incredibly boring postcards of kitschy Americana. While on balance I prefer the companion volume "Boring Postcards" slightly, this collection hits closer to home although some of the themes (highway interchanges chief among them) are a bit repetitive.
This book houses numerous spectacular examples of postcards so horribly drab, it makes you wonder what could have possibly been the motivation to produce them, or more importantly, actually buy and send them. I am extremely fond of the "ugly motels" series, which serves as a reminder of how ghastly style was in the 1960's.
Some of my favorite postcards are "Sunset Travel Trailer Park, Route 1, Fort Stockton, Texas," "The Spartan 3-way Imperial (#23K4C)" (the ugliest television you have ever seen,) "Ariens Sno-Thro--Rotary Mower, Reel Mower, Lawn Vacuum, Rotary Broom, and new Shredder Grinder and Shredder Bagger," "Big Yank Motel and Restaurant, US-131, Kalkaska, Mich.," "The beautiful and spacious dining room of the Wesleyan Retirement Home in Georgetown, Texas," "Oil Tank Farm, near Midland, Texas" (possibly the singularly most blighted landscape I have ever seen in my life), and my very favorite card in the book, "The Heart of any Resilient Plastering Job: Olsen REZ Clips," a postcard that is utterly mysterious in every way.
I love these cards for being random and strange remnants of our past. I don't understand why they were made or who would buy them (though some of the are actually postmarked!) but find them charming in their own enigmatic way. I only wish they were able to be sent: who wouldn't love to get a postcard of "PIC Precision Engraved Dials. Disc or Drum Types--Single Stop or Vernier Index."?
Not postcards to be mailed. As a book it's......boring
First a word of clarification. These are not postcards to be mailed. I didn't read the description clearly. This was only my fault, but someone else out there might make the same mistake.
Second, the publisher's description and viewers' comments are correct: These are boring, charmless, insipid images, that might tell us a lot about who we think we are -- perhaps of how proud small-town America was of its new airports, bus terminals and banks after the war. But I thought that not including any reflections by a student of our culture (Lord knows there are enough candidates), was just plain cheap, and makes this little book, well, boring.
Check for more reviews on Amazon.com
Similar Products:
|
