Universal Studios--Universal City, California 1956

This is Robert Frank’s, Universal Studios--Universal City, California, a gelatin silver print. It’s a high-angle shot, stark and full of contrast, immediately grabbing your attention. Frank uses a restricted palette here, the greys and blacks feel so filmic, so real. The man in the frame is pushing a cart piled high with silver platters, trophies, and goblets. The items seem to merge into a singular field of textures. The light reflects off of the polished surfaces, creating a sense of visual chaos, and a feeling of the absurd. The angle gives it a strange intimacy, as if we are spying on an unknown scene. Frank’s work often captures these in-between moments, where reality feels stranger than fiction. His photography has a kind of unpolished quality, a rawness that reminds me of early Weegee. It’s not about perfection, it’s about capturing the truth. Frank seems to say that art is not about answers, but about questions.