Hollywood 9 1958

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, *Hollywood 9*, sometime in the 20th century. What you see here are frames from a roll of film, a sequence of shots that give you a sense of time passing and decisions being made. There's a red 'X' through one of the frames, a brutal mark. It makes me think about how artists pick and choose, edit, and sometimes reject their own work. In each frame, the figures appear against what seems like a brightly lit room. The tonal range is quite limited, with stark contrasts. It’s as if Frank is pushing the medium to its limits, embracing the raw, almost gritty quality of the film. The dark silhouette of a figure in the marked frame is really striking. The figure seems to be looking out or away. The surrounding border emphasizes the moment and the act of looking. Looking to see and know, but never fully understanding. Like a conversation, the film strip invites us to piece things together, to make connections, to find meaning in the fragmented moments. It reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter's photo paintings, where blur and focus both reveal and conceal. It's this tension, this push and pull, that makes the work so compelling.