Flower festival--Spain 2 1952

Robert Frank captured this photographic contact sheet, "Flower festival-Spain 2," sometime during his career. The grainy texture and the monochromatic palette give it this great sense of immediacy. It reminds me that artmaking is always a process of selection. Look at the lower right corner of the frame; here the photographer has written '2' on the sheet. It's like a trace of his hand, a moment of decision captured in real time, just as the image itself captures a specific moment in time. Frank's work is a constant dialogue with artists such as Walker Evans. Both artists were drawn to the everyday, but Frank brings a subjective, restless energy that feels totally unique. This piece reminds us that art is an ongoing conversation. It embraces not just what we see, but how we see it.