Museum of Modern Art 5 1955

Here's Robert Frank's 'Museum of Modern Art 5,' a photo contact sheet – like a painter’s preparatory sketch, a way of seeing what you’ve got. It’s Frank, so it's probably film. I love the way the images are sequenced; so many people! I like to think of the artist walking into the MoMA like me walking into my studio, thinking: what to look at, where to look, what to take away? He captures snippets of life, like a collage of people together, and yet somehow separate. It gives me the feeling of time having passed and of so many bodies in one space. I see how the physical arrangement of the frames and the number 5 inscribed on the sheet are very painterly. It’s like he’s saying, "this isn't just an accident; this is curated.” This is how the artist makes meaning.