Guggenheim 48--Pennsylvania 1955

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet in Pennsylvania sometime around 1948. The film strip itself is the artwork, and it shows the raw, uncut, unedited version of how Frank saw things. It’s all about process. The surface is glossy, kind of like you could touch it and get fingerprints all over it. The black and white images have that silver gelatin feel, with soft grays and stark blacks. The light flares and the blurry motion are like a painter's gestural marks, conveying a sense of immediacy. The whole thing is about this layering of moments, and that one frame of a road, with the car coming right at you in the center? That’s the punch line; that’s how Frank saw America: hurtling forward, a bit dangerous. Frank’s work reminds me of Garry Winogrand, another street photographer who wasn’t afraid to show you the messy, unpolished side of life. Art isn’t about perfection, it’s about seeing and feeling.