Central casting--Hollywood 69 1958

Robert Frank gave us "Central Casting--Hollywood 69", a gelatin silver print, sometime in the late 60’s. Isn't it fascinating how a photographer makes marks too, scratching out images here and there, or circling another? The contact sheet becomes a document of a decision making process. It’s almost like looking at a painter's underpainting, the stage when the whole image is roughed in and then slowly brought into focus, with the original marks still visible underneath. The marks that Frank leaves, these bold red 'X's, and circles, they strike me as almost violent acts. They emphasize not only the artifice of image-making but the violence of choosing some images over others, lifting certain bodies into the light while leaving others in the dark. It reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter’s photo paintings, this interest in the way the hand can disrupt or ‘incorrect’ the photographic image. It’s this embrace of ambiguity, the space between clarity and chaos, that makes Frank’s work so compelling.