Guggenheim 510--General Motors Motorama, Los Angeles 1956

Robert Frank made this photograph at the General Motors Motorama in Los Angeles, it shows his process and the way he was thinking when shooting a roll of film. The dark, grainy quality, you know, the kind that feels almost tactile, really sets the mood. It's like you can feel the grit of the city, the hustle of the crowd. Each frame offers a glimpse, but it's the whole that sings. Look at the way he frames the cars, and the people. The emulsion feels thick, you can sense the dark room. I love the marks made by the editor, perhaps, a red pen scrawling around certain frames, the marks feel loose and intuitive. There’s a raw energy here that reminds me of some of the street photography I’ve seen by Garry Winogrand, that same sense of capturing life as it unfolds, messy and unpredictable. It’s this embrace of imperfection that makes Frank's work so compelling.