Ray K Metzker - Sand Creatures - 1979

Sand Creatures

Ray K Metzker
Aperture/1979/English/198*240*5

Ray K. Metzker's photobook Sand Creatures. Metzker studied at the New Bauhaus in Chicago, where Yasuhiro Ishimoto also trained. He was taught by Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan, both renowned as leading postwar American photographers and educators. During his student years, he was part of the group known as “I.D.5” alongside classmates like Joseph Sterling, and was recognized as a promising artist from the outset. Renowned for his monochrome sculptural photographs that masterfully capture light and shadow, his talent is well-established, evidenced by two Guggenheim Fellowships and numerous solo exhibitions at New York's prestigious Lawrence Miller Gallery. This book is a collection centered on “beach” scenes photographed during Metzker's early period from 1968 to 1975. It features numerous works filled with a rare “human touch” for Metzker: the contrast between white beaches, piercing skies and seas, and the shadows of black human figures; the diverse ways people lie on the beach; and the ever-changing sculptural beauty of the sand.