Motel sign on truck--California 1956

Editor: Here we have Robert Frank's "Motel sign on truck—California" from 1956, a black and white print. The image feels stark and a little lonely. I’m intrigued by the pairing of the antiquated truck with the promises of modern comfort advertised on the sign it carries. What strikes you most about this image? Curator: Well, immediately I consider the material realities that underpin this scene. Look at the truck itself – an older model, repurposed for advertising. It speaks volumes about the economic conditions and the resourcefulness required to compete in the burgeoning motel industry. Even the sign itself, probably constructed from inexpensive materials, highlights the roadside materiality that shaped car culture. Editor: So, you're focusing on how things are made and what they're made of, even the sign itself? Curator: Precisely. Consider "Free TV." It wasn't just an amenity, but a signifier of modernity, mass media permeating everyday life. Frank isn’t just capturing an image; he's capturing a moment in the transition of material culture and the way leisure and consumption were being redefined by things like televisions, cheaper gas and automobile manufacturing. And by things and materiality I also mean labour, that truck wasn't fixed itself! Someone was involved. Editor: That’s a perspective I hadn’t considered. So instead of focusing on Frank as an artist conveying an emotion, we are encouraged to reflect on how people actually lived. I didn’t really think about the labor behind those roadside motel signs before. Curator: Exactly. It invites us to think critically about the labor, production, and consumption interwoven within seemingly simple scenes of Americana. Editor: Thanks, that definitely gave me a lot to think about. I will now wonder who crafted those signs! Curator: And, how such ordinary, roadside architecture helped form this American experience, and this very specific time and place.