Chicago architecture has long fascinated photographers and the buildings have been photographed so many times and from so many different angles. I wanted to create a new and personal visual perspective of Chicago. To do this, I drew inspiration from the abstract art movements of the 20th Century which charted a journey from the figurative representation of reality towards increasing levels of abstraction, with the use of lines and geometric shapes and forms.
Constructivism as an art movement came to the fore in the Soviet Union after the revolution of 1917. The movement was conceived out of a need for a new aesthetic language; one befitting the progressive new era in Soviet socialist history. The Constructivist movement is rooted in the artistic depiction of utilitarian objects (in my case, skylights and staircases), often rendered in black and white.
Taking inspiration from Constructivism, I have processed my Chicago photographs in Photoshop to develop my personal homage to this art movement, including overlaying multiple images and placing them onto background textures of concrete or gesso to create images that are low key and gritty, to reflect a world embracing the industrial age in the early part of the last century.
