Giorgio De Chirico and Van Doyen--European portraits no number 1961

Robert Frank made this photograph, "Giorgio De Chirico and Van Doyen--European portraits no number," with film. It's a series of strips laid out at these odd, casual angles. I love that; it’s like the private view that he is offering us, and the way the strips of film intersect, and cast little shadows, they are so physical. The film itself is like a drawing tool here. He is creating new compositions with it, making an image from images. I keep thinking about the strip at the top, with the repeated image of the guy bent over his computer. It makes me think of my own studio and the way that the computer has become so integral to the process of artmaking. That repetition in the film strip reminds me of Warhol, but of course Frank is a photographer, so the mechanical reproduction is built into the medium. Each repetition is a little different, and each little difference is important. I love that.