11th Street story E 1951

Robert Frank made this piece, *11th Street story E*, with gelatin silver print. He really embraces the photographic process here. It’s all about the physicality of the film strip itself. I think that's cool because, in my painting, I often leave traces of how things are made. The texture of the film, the sprocket holes along the edges, and the way it’s all arranged on the page. It becomes a visual poem. You can see these images of people, buildings, and street scenes. Each frame has a different level of clarity and focus, some almost ghostly. The white border around it flattens everything out. There's one frame, the second strip on the right-hand side, that feels particularly loaded. Someone posing in front of a window. Her arms are up, and the light is intense. There's something playful and performative about it, but also a little mysterious, like a scene from a movie. In some ways, it reminds me of Warhol and his explorations of film and celebrity, but much more intimate. The work is less about capturing a perfect image than about creating a conversation around seeing and experiencing.