Valencia, Spain 6 1952

Robert Frank’s ‘Valencia, Spain 6’ is a photo contact sheet, a matrix of possible pictures. I love that you can see the artist’s hand right there on the surface, editing with grease pencil. The photograph is like a sketch—a collection of attempts, a try-out for something else. There’s a physicality here that reminds me of painting. Frank is physically choosing, marking, cropping, and editing. Photography often feels like a cerebral medium, so it’s thrilling to see the material process on display. In one frame, a figure sits in a field, seemingly unposed; Frank has circled it, as though to say, “This one!” The mark highlights the ambiguity inherent to photography. Is this the best shot? The only shot? The beginning of something? Frank seems to be in conversation with artists like Gerhard Richter who engage with photography and blur the lines between the still image and its potential as a painterly source. His work embraces the idea that art is an ongoing dialogue, full of questions and possibilities.