Macy's Parade no number 1953

This is Robert Frank's, Macy's Parade no number, a photographic contact sheet of gelatin silver prints. Here you see the artist's process revealed, like seeing the back of a painting. Frank’s work is grainy, and spontaneous, qualities that were initially seen as flaws. Look at the fourth row; it's my favorite, with the upside-down crowd scene. Seeing the world from a different angle can really shake things up, like when you're painting and turn the canvas around, suddenly noticing a whole new set of possibilities. The physicality of the medium is tangible. You can almost smell the developer fluid and see Frank in the darkroom, figuring it all out. Frank's work reminds me of Walker Evans, another photographer who captured America with a raw and honest eye. But where Evans is formal, Frank is all feeling. His images aren't perfect, and that’s the point. Art isn’t about perfection, it's about opening up a conversation.