Robert Kennedy--Convention 5 1956

Robert Frank made this photographic work using film, layering images to evoke both presence and absence. The grainy, high-contrast images give this work an immediacy that feels both intimate and distant. The surface is busy and filled with information, like a memory reel of an event you have only half witnessed. There is a red circle drawn around one of the images, and this is what stands out. The red feels like a kind of aggressive underlining. The images are not straightforward; they are layered with the film itself. It makes me think about how we construct history through images and how each still can be a powerful tool, but it’s also still only a piece of a much bigger picture. Frank’s use of serial imagery and a hand-drawn style feels similar to the work of Andy Warhol. Both are using popular figures to play with notions of reality and representation. It’s a reminder that art thrives on conversation, where artists like Frank challenge us to question what we see and how we see it.