From the bus 35 1958

Robert Frank's film strip, From the bus 35, presents a sequence of small gelatin silver prints on a dark plastic backing. I love that you can see the materiality of photography here; the image isn’t just an image, it's a physical, plastic thing. The texture is rough, grainy, and immediate. The contrast between light and shadow really speaks to me, it is quite stark. Look how the blacks feel dense, and how the highlights almost flare. In one frame, a figure sits on a stoop, framed by a doorway. I imagine this as a quick grab, a candid moment. Frank's work reminds me of the photographs of Walker Evans, but looser, rougher, more personal. I’d say both artists really used photography to explore and reflect on the everyday, but Frank wasn't as concerned with formal perfection. Like all the best art, it has the feeling of an ongoing experiment.