Nixon campaign 23 1960

Robert Frank made this black and white photograph, a strip of images, most likely during the Nixon campaign. It's like a storyboard, a sequence of moments captured and laid bare. I wonder about Frank's process here. Was he trying to find the perfect shot, or was he interested in the in-between moments, the ones we usually discard? There's a rawness, an immediacy to it, like he’s saying, "Here's what I saw, take it or leave it." The red square around one frame is a stark reminder of the artist’s selecting eye. I'm drawn to the way Frank embraces the imperfections, the graininess, the lack of polish. It reminds me that art doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful. I'm thinking of other artists who also captured the political zeitgeist, like Martha Rosler, or Leon Golub. It feels like we’re looking at a conversation between artists across time, a constant questioning and re-evaluation of what it means to represent the world around us.