Guggenheim 669--Reno, Nevada 1956

This is Robert Frank’s "Guggenheim 669--Reno, Nevada," a contact sheet. Think of it as a painter's palette but for photography, showing the process of image-making. Frank’s palette is pure black and white, the stark contrast of light and shadow. It captures a specific American moment through many small windows, an almost dreamlike world of diners, cityscapes, and gamblers. Take the third row, for example: the close-up frames of slot machines become abstract compositions of light and dark, reflecting Frank's broader work, where the mundane transforms into the poetic. This piece reminds me of how artists like Gerhard Richter would embrace chance and experimentation. This is how Frank, like other artists, embraces the beauty of the imperfect and the unfinished.