Andrew Prokos: the Architecture of Amusement

New York-based photographer Andrew Prokos looks at American amusement parks from an unusual perspective, beyond the bounds of the human scale and projected skywards.

After you see the “Architecture of Amusement” project, you'll never look at roller-coasters the same way again. While the architecture of the amusement parks forms the basis for his work, to Prokos sees the ultimate accomplishment as much more. The photographer uses his camera lens like a scalpel, deconstructing the country's most famous attractions and zooming in on the most bizarre details. 
Superman, Batman and Green Lantern are just some of the hair-raising attractions, artfully “broken down” by Prokos, who uses deconstruction as the key composition technique in this photography project.
Under the close scrutiny of his camera, instead of looking artificial, the anatomy of these giants turns into a purely abstract form. These awesome structures with their gaudy colours, first made of tracks, screws and bolts have now been turned into metaphysical figures, standing out brightly against a blue sky. 
With the Architecture of Amusement, Andrew Prokos helps eliminate another amusement park stereotype - the crowds. When you think "amusement park" you automatically think of buzzing crowds of people, hair-raising screams from the attractions, mile-long queues. To put it simply - chaos.
Prokos frees us from this cliché and uses his photographs to reward us with a magical component: you can see the playful nature of the climbs and plummets, in the twists and turns of these majestic constructions built for fun, as bizarre as the gaudy colours that distinguish them. The structures are almost humanised, no longer merely connected to their purpose. Thanks to the work of Andrew Prokos, with their multi-coloured acrobatics, they become a vehicle of emotions for observers and a manifesto of the dynamic world of amusement parks. 

Barbara Esposito

Sito web: http://andrewprokos.com