Guggenheim 314--Arkansas 1955

This is Robert Frank's "Guggenheim 314--Arkansas," a photographic contact sheet, and right away, you see how the grid emphasizes the process. It's like a painter's preparatory sketch, where you're seeing the artist work through a set of ideas. The textures are stark. Frank shoots in black and white, which makes everything about light and shadow, the gritty reality of the world. This isn't about slick perfection. There's a deep kind of looking going on here. There's a red box around one of the images, the artist has selected a certain shot. Frank's work reminds me a little of Walker Evans, but with a more personal, almost diaristic feel. Both were interested in documenting everyday life in America, but Frank's images have this raw, immediate quality that Evans often avoids. Art's always a conversation, right? A pushing and pulling, an exploration of different ways of seeing. There’s no one "right" answer, just different perspectives.