German painter Melvin Werner has achieved significant popularity thanks to his incredible paintings that look like photographic negatives.
For modern photographers who haven’t shot color negative film, a negative is an inverse of a “normal looking” positive image. Consider the examples featured in photographer Tony Santo’s excellent video on digital color negative conversion below.
For most photographers, even seasoned ones, it can be tricky to imagine how their negative image will look once properly developed and inverted into the final positive. However, Werner can intricately paint “negative” images that look perfect when inverted.
Unsurprisingly, people love Werner’s work and are amazed by his process.
“Wow how do you even start doing this…” one Reddit user asks on a recent post on the popular “Damn, that’s interesting!” subreddit.
One person speculates that Werner took negative photos of “normal” paintings and then recreated them through color matching and can now achieve the desired outcome without using reference images.
Another user adds that Werner must have incredible knowledge of color theory, which is undoubtedly true based on the quality of his work, inverted and traditional alike.
Werner, who has amassed more than 93,000 followers on Instagram, held his first-ever solo show in London earlier this month at the Truman Brewery, and posted a video showing amazed guests watching Werner’s paintings go from inverted to “normal” in real-time using their phones.
“From visiting museums as a child with my grandmother, taking art as an advanced course in high school, training as a communication designer, and working as a graphic designer, art has always been a common thread in my life,” Werner explains on his website. “That’s why I decided to make art and the freedom that comes with it the focus of my life.”
Werner is now pursuing art full time and calls it “one of the best decisions” he’s made for himself. The artist is continually looking for innovative new ways to create, and as his inverted paintings so, he’s got a knack for innovation.
Melvin Werner routinely posts his work, including behind the scenes videos on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Prints are available for sale on Werner’s website, although the “Impossible Things” prints are currently sold out.
Image credits: Melvin Werner (@melke_1)
