/Why We Love Merkley

I'm big on irreverence and extravagance and merkley??? has it in spades.  His surreal and decadent portrait tableaux are full of wit, humor, and over-the-top indulgence. 

The New York Times once said that merkley??? "might have amounted to nothing in analog times."  This is the beauty of the internet, the ability to connect artists directly with their audiences and eliminate gatekeepers and middlemen. 

In 2007, merkley??? self-published his own book, 111, which features 111 photographs of naked, lounging women on sofas.  When merkley??? announced on his site that the book was available for pre-order and included a PayPal link, he'd covered the cost of printing the entire run of 1111 books in two weeks.

Some of the images are featured in this set, as well as a few others representative of merkley???'s signature style.  Two of my favorites are of the sex-blogger Violet Blue, surrounded by a halo of dildos (last two in the set).

111 available here .

- Kasia