Flotsam: Fine art photographs of isolated sunbathers on New York's Far Rockaway Beach

With his twin signatures of controlled composition and faded colour palette, the images frame the relentless heat and isolated subjects of a seemingly anonymous beach.

Soon to be available in a new book of the same name, Flotsam's description reads: "Whitest sands and deepest blue skies fade from harshest light, while aeroplanes soar high above the washed ashore sun-worshippers. Roberts’ altogether surreal juxtapositions of beached castaways set against a waterless panorama of anonymous American suburban horizons, appear almost timeless."

Flotsam will be previewing at Cosmos Arles Books during the opening week of the festival Rencontres d'Arles on 3-8 July 2017. For more information, visit www.cosmosarlesbooks.com.

Ward Roberts is an independent conceptual artist who creates exquisitely composed photographs drawing on themes such as the effects of loneliness and isolation in the modern world. His perspective is fresh and engaging, the sophisticated aesthetics are often contradicted by subtle unscripted moments. A soft drenched colour pallet is a common theme. There is innate energy at the core of his work, one which is harnessed and marshalled into every detail.

Roberts’ work is in many ways a rebuttal of the prevailing trend of urban, gritty style contemporary photography. There is a dichotomy at play in his fine art images which simultaneously recall the mastery of medium and calculated patience of remote academic painters, yet his subjects and presentation feel completely new and contemporary.

He is currently based in New York. For more information, visit ward-roberts.com.