Just lovely

John

McCracken (b. 1934, Berkeley, California) is an American artist.

He started his career creating bold, tight geometric compositions on Masonite or treated canvas. While still in school, his first exhibition at Nicholas Wilder's gallery in Los Angeles, California in 1965 was a critical success.

He was included in the seminal 1966 exhibit, "Primary Structures" at the Jewish Museum (New York) as part of the West Coast influence.

The new work he presented jumped off the wall in the form of objects that had been distilled down to their most basic form. McCracken calls his objects "blocks, slabs, columns, planks. Basic beautiful forms, neutral forms."

After his early paintings, a technique emerged on these physical forms of high gloss lacquer over fiberglass or polyester resin on plywood or wood substructure similar to techniques used in surfboard construction pervasive in his Southern California environment.

For him, color is also used as "material." Bold solid colours with their highly polished finish reflect the unique California light or mirror the observer in a way that takes the work into another dimension. Although many of his pieces stand solidly on or off a pedestal, it was his decision to lean the objects against the wall that gave him international recognition.
McCracken currently lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico.