Merkin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1938, and held an undergraduate degree in fine art from Syracuse University in 1960, a Master’s Degree in art from Michigan State University in 1961, and a master’s degree in Painting (MFA) from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1963. In 1962–63 he received a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship in Painting and, in 1975, The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from The National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Merkin was also an avid collector of vintage pornography. Here a few photographs from this collection.
