The John Hancock Center is a powerful symbol of Chicago, in good part thanks to its unique facade. It's exterior beams, which rise up from the plane of its windows as they criss cross its surface, make for a very distinctive figure. Its simple grid of supports is made beautiful by virtue of its simplicity and its (massive) scale.
I've tried use that scale and simplicity in these photos. These images, taken without a frame of reference, force you to see only the patterns within the Center's exterior. In these images I also see Burke's notion of the sublime. Burke describes the powerful feeling we experience when we are faced with something incomprehensibly massive and vast, such as the stars or the ocean. On one level, the Center's height, somber coloring, and massive lines make it appear great and terrible, like some sort of Leviathan. On another level, it seems wondrous and magical. That's the duality of the sublime.
I've tried use that scale and simplicity in these photos. These images, taken without a frame of reference, force you to see only the patterns within the Center's exterior. In these images I also see Burke's notion of the sublime. Burke describes the powerful feeling we experience when we are faced with something incomprehensibly massive and vast, such as the stars or the ocean. On one level, the Center's height, somber coloring, and massive lines make it appear great and terrible, like some sort of Leviathan. On another level, it seems wondrous and magical. That's the duality of the sublime.
John Hancock Center Study 1
John Hancock Center Study 2
John Hancock Center Study 3
John Hancock Center Study 4
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