Wales 34 1953

Robert Frank's "Wales 34" is a photographic contact sheet, a kind of document, maybe a sketchpad, something immediate and process-oriented. The red marks scattered across the surface, like the big number 34 scrawled on the side, give it a really energetic vibe. There's something so raw about seeing this working document. You can see how he's thinking, circling, marking the frames he likes, or maybe doesn't like. It makes you think about the editing process, what gets chosen, what gets left behind. And those little sprocket holes running along the edges of the film strips, they're like a rhythm, a beat that runs through the whole thing. The red pen is like a shot of blood. Looking at this piece, I think of other artists who reveal their process, like Cy Twombly with his scribbled lines and notations. It’s like Frank is saying that the art is not just in the final image, but in the whole messy, beautiful act of seeing and selecting.