Tobe is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA). He obtained his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1996 in Film Producing and Screenwriting. Since then, he has moved on to gain experience as a co-producer of a New York-based video production company specializing in Native American programming, experience at Paramount Pictures East Coast Publicity, screenwriting/film development at Atchity Productions in LA, and has now entered the world of Fine Art Photography, Independent Art Curating at Nomadworks a shared office space in NYC – showcasing the works of both established and young aspiring artists with a partnership with NYU.
His artistic influences range from the techniques of his father, Tobe Roberts Sr. to Hasui Kawase, Leonid Afremov, Bill Rabbit, JD Challenger, and R.C Gorman.
Tobe continuously seeks out a resplendent beauty and a story in my environment, making it a memory to share and evoking tranquility. His fine art photography focuses mostly on the richness of bold colors, nature, landscapes, and equine souls. Tobe likes to build his portfolio with images that inspire and evoke emotions. He believes art has energetic resonance and the colors we select can move us and heal. His work is heavily influenced by Nature.
Tobe enjoys including works that showcase his skills in composition, colors that complement each other, use of light, new media techniques, and different perspectives.
Statement:
My long and winding journey as an artist has been replete with stories and new discoveries. Some of my artwork I’ve consciously weaved myself but others were not in my control. I began to tell them in a variety of mediums: through creative writing as a child, through poetry, drawings, and paintings in resplendent colors, through music as well as sharing my stories through dance. Through the simplicity of nature photography, I continued to tell of my experiences from my inner vision to outwardly in whatever fashion was creative for me.
My journey also led me to filmmaking, which was a most natural progression in my development as an artist. My first and only love became photography. The richness of storytelling (as the camera is my eye) has its deep roots in my heritage. Envisioning intricate visual pieces through light, shadow, and color is what I have found to be very much the tool to which my soul gravitates toward in order to express itself.
To further my development artistically, I’ve come to the realization that being in new locales affords me many new challenges. It can bestow new experiences to further assist me in becoming a more well-rounded artist. We draw from it, reference it, and may reflect upon what we see on it, react with many emotions to it, can be inspired by it, or provoke thought from it.