Ray Metzker
Trolley Stop, 1966
Composite of silver gelatin prints
Trolley Stop, the large 1966 photographic assemblage by Ray Metzker on view now at MoMA, was part of a body of work called The Composites originally featured in the museum's one man show of Metzker's work in 1967. The 1967 show was curated by John Szarkowski, former director of MoMA's Department of Photography. Metzker is quoted in the press release from the 1967 show, saying "Where photography has been primarily a process of selection and extraction, I wish to investigate the possibilities of synthesis...I intend the the elements to be presented for simultaneous viewing...like a mosaic or mural."
The current crossdiscipline installation at the museum is a collaboration between curators from all of MoMA's departments and proceeds chronologically, allowing connections to be made between contemporaneous works. Metzker's composite, for example, is installed between other pieces from 1966: Agnes Martin's reductive painting Mountain I and a kinetic work by Venezuelan op artist Jesús Rafael Soto.
Other featured artists in the 1966 group include Richard Tuttle, Sigmar Polke, Vija Celmins, and Joseph Beuys. This exhibition of works from the permanent collection is on view until March 2017.