Guggenheim 359--Houston, Texas 1955

Robert Frank made this piece, "Guggenheim 359--Houston, Texas," using photography and collage. The contact sheet is like a sketchbook page: immediate, unresolved. The heavy black around the images becomes a field, a zone, like the white of a painter’s canvas. The texture of the black area is scuffed and uneven, like a darkroom accident. I love the bit of tape holding the lower strip in place, it makes the piece into an object, not just an image. The images themselves are documentary, but the way they are presented is deeply personal. Frank is considered a pioneer of street photography. He has a lot in common with Garry Winogrand, though I find Frank’s work more emotionally raw and maybe even a little sad. Ultimately, art is a conversation, and these guys were definitely talking to each other.