Abercrombie & Fitch 4 1955

Robert Frank made this photowork titled ‘Abercrombie & Fitch 4’ using gelatin silver and applying it to paper. Frank shows us film strips – the supposed outtakes – and what’s interesting is the framing. Each of these strips are like frames, the way Frank uses the edge of the film as a compositional element. It’s like he’s saying, “Hey, this is the raw material. This is the stuff that usually gets cut out, but it’s just as important.” I’m drawn to how he's assembled these strips. They’re slightly tilted, not perfectly aligned, creating a kind of off-kilter rhythm. It’s like a visual poem, a little bit messy, a little bit raw, but full of life. It reminds me of John Cage’s use of chance operations in music. He embraced the accidental, the unplanned, and so did Frank. It's art as life, not life as art. That seems to be the point.