Shriner's parade--Times Square, New York City no number 1953

Robert Frank made this contact sheet of a Shriner's parade in Times Square, New York City, by pressing strips of 35mm negatives against a sheet of photographic paper and exposing it to light. It looks like you get the good with the bad, a stream of consciousness and process of editing all in one go. I love that Frank didn't crop or obscure the evidence of his process. You can see the individual frames, the sprocket holes, and even some yellow marker where he was maybe thinking of cropping. It's like he's saying, "Here's the raw material, the stuff that didn't make the cut, as well as the images I chose." It's almost like a painting in that way. I wonder if the messiness is what he was after. I'm reminded of Warhol's silkscreens, where the imperfections and misalignments are part of the aesthetic. Like Warhol, Frank makes me consider art as a dialogue, constantly building on what came before.