Interior of car wash--Gallup, New Mexico 1955

This photograph, Interior of car wash--Gallup, New Mexico, was taken by Robert Frank, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. The grainy black and white and the way Frank seems to have jumped right into the middle of things feels like a gut reaction, which, as an artist, I can totally relate to! The car's covered in this crust of suds. I like how the light flares over the body, almost like a halo. And then you have this blurry crowd of onlookers, all these faces, but you can't really make any of them out. Look, there's even a guy on a ladder in the back! It's like a movie set. Frank’s photos always make me think of Walker Evans, but where Evans is all about the quiet dignity of things, Frank's got this restless energy. It's like he's saying, "Here's America, take it or leave it!" And you can't help but look.