Merrill Roberts’ Monsoon in Sedona

Sedona AZ (January 12, 2013) – An exhibition of fine art photography by Cottonwood resident and award winning photographer Merrill A. Roberts, Jr. has been selected to be the featured exhibition in the ASU Gammage Theatre Auditorium, 1200 South Forest Avenue, Tempe, Arizona, on February 21 though March 27, 2013. Roberts’ exhibition is entitled, Art and Life Together is Magic.

The exhibition will consist of photographs from the 1960s and 1970s during the Civil Rights movement and will feature photographs of Roberts world today – landscapes, portraits, personal documentaries, black and white pictures, and metal prints.

As a member of the New York Working Press, Roberts captured defining images of some of the most important people, past and present, through the filter of his uncompromising eye. 

Raised in New York City’s Harlem, Roberts is a self-taught photographer whose world eye was honed by the mean streets of New York City and a military stint that introduced him to foreign lands. Roberts was always accompanied by a camera, honing his craft even while working as a tractor trailer driver and plumber-welder.

Photographer Merrill Roberts’ Spinners album cover

A continuing hallmark of Roberts’ work is its sense of empathy, an empathy reflected through his camera’s lens. His candid shots, composed of equal parts biography, commentary and documentary, have been published in prestigious publications, a list that includes the New York Times, The Daily News, Penthouse, Downbeat, Billboard, Ebony, Jet and Essence magazines. 

Roberts has numerous record album covers to his credit as well. 

Roberts uses his camera lens, as he puts it, “…to see what I saw when I did not see, and to see what was not there but was there when I first looked at the subject.” 

In anticipation of publishing a book, Roberts is now cataloging his work. Viewing hours at ASU Gammage are Mondays, 1-4 PM, or call 1-480-965-6912 to schedule a showing.

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