The Americans

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© Robert Frank

Tomorrow I'm going to see the "Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans" exhibit at the Met. For me this feels like my own personal hajj. It is impossible to understate Robert Frank's contribution to photography and the American identity. I have seen many of Frank's photographs individually, but this is the first time I will be able to experience the full sweep of his expression. I can't wait.

Please do not miss this landmark show.

In the meantime, give a listen to this interview with Robert Frank and curator of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Photographs (and my thesis advisor), Jeff Rosenheim on the Leonard Lopate Show.

Oh Public Road!

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Algiers, Louisiana, 2001 © Peter Kayafas

This afternoon I'm traveling to Cambridge, MA for a meeting to plan my upcoming show at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I'm looking forward to hitting the road. I hope to find a few stranded motorists along the way.

I've had photography about the American road and cars on my mind lately with Robert Frank's The Americans opening this week at the Met and Nicolai Howalt's stark and abstract Car Crash Studies on view at Silverstein. I've also been looking at the (relatively) new book by Peter Kayafas, O Public Road!

Sasha Wolfe introduced me to Peter's work over the summer and I've been engrossed by the images ever since. The book includes spare black and white photos from the last 20 years of Peter's travels across the US. I appreciate the echoes of Frank's 1955 journey.

You can view images from the book on Peter's Web site and order it directly from Purple Martin Press.