Inverted - Negative-Image Color Photo Series by Andrew Prokos

Inverted (Color)

Inverted is an experimental photography series inspired by the modernist and futuristic architecture of the Middle East. Through the use of negative imagery, the series portrays an architectural wonderland of bold color fields, abstraction, and close-up views which give us just a glimpse of the inhabitants’ lives. In a 2022 interview with Widewalls Magazine about his solo exhibition of the series Andrew explains:

“Inverted makes use of very bold negative color imagery and close-up details and patterns. The intent is to shift the viewer’s perception of the mundane, in order to see it in a new way. The close-up facades of these Modernist buildings in Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Sharjah offer a glimpse of the lives of the inhabitants. They are occupied spaces, and that humanizes the series a bit. Often the balconies of these 1970’s and 1980’s buildings have lots of personal effects on them…laundry hanging out to dry, exercise bicycles, carpets, baby strollers, etc. When looked at in the negative (inverted) realm they take on all kinds of beautiful hues and become enticing and enigmatic objects to behold. This is not me colorizing the scene, but the exact opposite of the positive perception of the scene…”

Large-format photographs from the series are displayed at a scale of up to 2.5 meters in size. Inverted has been published at DesignBoom, Harper’s Bazaar Art, Artsy, and in the Style section of CNN Arabic. The series was awarded a silver medal at the 2020 International Photography Awards and was awarded an Honorable Mention at the 2020 Prix de la Photographie in Paris. A selection of large-scale photographs from Inverted are included in a solo exhibition “Andrew Prokos: New Abstraction” at GalleryX in September, 2022.