23rd Street--New York City II 1953

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet, 23rd Street – New York City II, using gelatin silver. It's like he’s thinking through his shots, a whole bunch of almost the same view. The surface has a sheen to it, like a memory trying to stay clear. You can almost feel the gritty, cold air of New York just looking at it. In the middle strip, there’s this frame with a statue, slightly out of focus, but the gesture is there. It’s like life is happening all around it, and the statue is just trying to hold still in the chaos. It’s so human, in a weird way. It reminds me of Lee Friedlander’s way of capturing the everyday, but Frank has a raw energy, a restlessness in his vision, and it feels more like a narrative. With Frank you’re seeing a story unfold, one frame at a time. It’s like he’s saying, “Look, this is what it feels like to be alive, right now.”