Hollywood sign--Hollywood 70 1958

Editor: This is Robert Frank's "Hollywood sign--Hollywood 70", a gelatin silver print from 1958. What strikes me is its raw, almost documentary style. It’s not a glamorous shot of the iconic sign; it's a contact sheet, revealing the artistic process. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The contact sheet format itself is key. Each frame captures a slightly different angle or exposure, yet the Hollywood sign remains the central, almost haunting, figure. Think of the sign as a modern-day totem. Frank presents fragmented views, never letting us fully grasp the Hollywood symbol, do you see how the different frames create a sense of unease, or perhaps disillusionment? Editor: I do, especially because they are so repetitive. They seem almost like a study of one letter over and over. It’s both iconic and dehumanized at the same time. The ‘H’ becomes the sign itself, like he almost only cared about this first letter and repeating it… Why focus on the letter itself instead of the whole sign? Curator: The letter 'H', repeated ad nauseam, carries a profound psychological weight. ‘H’ could signify 'Hope,' or even 'Hell,' creating tension between aspiration and reality, a dialectic the symbol is already infused by… It acts as a portal, each frame presenting a different facet of our collective desires and anxieties associated with the Hollywood mythos. Do you see how each imperfectly repeated ‘H’ slowly erodes the initial meaning and impact, or adds a different kind of cultural weight? Editor: I see your point, it’s like a mantra that lost its charm or became darker because of being overused. Curator: Precisely. By presenting the image in this format, the artist reflects the fragile and often fragmented nature of dreams and iconic images in our culture, wouldn't you say? Editor: Absolutely. I’m definitely viewing the sign in a different way now. I thought that being just an artistic resource in photography, contact sheet; instead it reveals more meanings and thoughts about symbols and culture than one unique exposure could do. Curator: Indeed. That layering of meanings within symbols – that's the real power of images.