Gate--Architecture 1941 - 1945

This photograph, by Robert Frank, captures an architectural gate under the watch of looming mountains. The gate itself is a study in contrasts: its ornate structure juxtaposed with its visible decay. I can imagine Frank, squinting through the lens, thinking about how to frame this shot to capture a sense of place, of history, of time. The light catches the snow in the foreground, making it look like it's been quickly brushed onto the photograph, and I get a sense of the materiality, the specific textures of stone and metal. There is something so tender about the way Frank approaches his subjects, how he sees the poetry in the everyday. Like the work of other artists I admire, such as Helen Frankenthaler or Joan Mitchell, who are also thinking about openness and the possibilities of mark-making. Ultimately, this image reminds me that artmaking is an ongoing conversation, a dialogue across time and space that inspires us to see the world in new and unexpected ways.