Men at auto dealership--Gallup, New Mexico 1955

This photograph of men in a New Mexico auto dealership was shot by Robert Frank, though when exactly is a mystery. In this black and white scene, figures huddle, smoke, and ignite, as a sense of the furtive and the quotidian swirls around them. I imagine Frank in the corner, unseen, waiting for the moment where the tension peaks, when the smoke obscures and clarifies the transaction taking place. Look at the man on the left, so focused on the paperwork in front of him as he lights a cigarette. The photograph feels so intimate, as though we are peering into a private moment of negotiation, desire, and maybe even a little bit of desperation. Frank’s image reminds me of Weegee’s crime scene photographs or maybe even some of Philip Guston’s later paintings. It has that same grainy texture and an almost absurd bleakness. The white of the cowboy’s hat is like a splash of paint, cutting through all the monochrome. It’s a scene of American life, suspended in time, leaving you to ask yourself: what’s the deal being made here?