24th November 2009 – 9th January 2010
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia, 1963
1963
Gelatin silver print
The early photographs from the 1960’s are stupendous!
The pre-visualisation of the final photograph shows rare talent. The use of deep chiaroscuro is handled so adeptly, so confidently. The photographer is in full control of the modelling of the spaces and contours of the objects within the photographic frame. Metzker’s drawing with light surely comes from an enlightened mind. Magical. Wonderful.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
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Many thankx to Laurence Miller Gallery for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia, 1963
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia, 1964
1964
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Chicago, 1958
1958
Gelatin silver print
From November 24 through January 9 Laurence Miller Gallery celebrates Ray K. Metzker: AutoMagic. This exhibition features over fifty black-and-white photographs taken by this 78-year old master photographer over the past fifty years in which the automobile plays a pivotal role in the contest between light and shadow. Forty of the photographs have never been exhibited before.
From his earliest street pictures taken under the El in Chicago’s Loop in the mid-Fifties, to his most recent highly abstract views of reflections on Philadelphia car windows, Ray K. Metzker brings an exuberance of vision rarely found among today’s photographers. In total control of his camera and craft, Metzker transforms the mundane in daily urban life into intense images that sizzle, and delight the eye.
In the darkest recesses of a parking garage, we discover a single shimmering tail fin of a late 50’s Cadillac. In a scene more Orson Wells than Woody Allen, we witness a menacing shadow figure approaching a parked car, intent unknown. In a blizzard, we join the photographer and a single figure as they look at one another wondering why each other is standing there in the cascading snow.
The show also reveals a more tender side of Metzker, as we peer into car windows to see folks uninhibited within their mobile shelters, including a sleeping man with a medallion, head resting on the door; a man reading at the wheel of his damaged white coupe; and a man at the end of long day, hand upon his head.
Metzker’s work of the last few years, fondly nicknamed Autowackies, are a brilliant extension of his earlier forays into abstraction, and are only made possible by the contours of our newest cars and SUV’s, which wildly warp the architecture and cloud formations reflected on their glossy surfaces.
Text from the Lawrence Miller Gallery website [Online] Cited 12/12/2009 no longer available online
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia, 1963
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia, 1964
1964
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Albuquerque, 1971
1971
Solarized vintage silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia
1963
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia, 2009
2009
Gelatin silver print
Ray K. Metzker (American, 1931-2014)
Philadelphia, 2009
2009
Gelatin silver print
Lawrence Miller Gallery
Lawrence Miller Gallery is now operating as a private dealer and consultant. The gallery is no longer hosting a physical exhibition space.
Art Blart 
Chicago 1958 is fantastic. The balance of the curves and straight lines with the riveted cold metal. Awesome.
http://www.macolabels.com