Woman inside shop--San Francisco 1956

This photograph was taken in San Francisco by Robert Frank. Isn’t it amazing, this layered view? I can almost smell the sawdust in the air, can’t you? The way Frank frames the woman viewing art through other artworks is so smart. I bet she, like Frank, and me, were all just trying to make sense of the world through pictures. As a painter, I think about what it must have felt like for the artist, Frank, in that moment, snapping the shot, capturing her gaze and her view of the world. What did she see? What did he see? The soft greys of the photo stock remind me of the quiet in-between moments when you get a sense of the picture coming, while other pictures are stacked nearby waiting to be seen.