1977

Pictus Interruptus

American, 1931 - 2014

The Pictus Interruptus series, begun in 1976 during a sabbatical from teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art (now The University of the Arts), boasts some of the most visually intriguing imagery of Metzker's lengthy career. In this body of work, small props fashioned in the studio are integrated with outdoor vistas: by holding the objects close to the camera lens, Metzker disrupts the view of the background. These lyric and sometimes jarring compositions border on the abstract through an emphasis on extremes such as near and far, blur and focus, dark and light.