John McCracken

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 colors 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.

Education/Teaching

Attended California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland

Taught
1965-66 University of California, Irvine
1966-68 University of California, Los Angeles
1968-69 School of Visual Arts, New York
1971-72 Hunter College, New York
1972-73 University of Nevada, Reno
1973-75 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
1975-76 University of California, Irvine
1975-85 College of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Works in Permanent Collections

United States

California

* "No. 25", 1964, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley
* "Nine Planks V", 1974, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach
* "Blue Column", 1967, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
* "Plank", 1976, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
* "Dont' Tell Me When to Stop", 1967, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
* "Untitled", 1982, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
* "Mykonos", 1965, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach
* "Plank I", 1974, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach
* "Pyramid, , Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach
* "Red Cube", 1971, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach
* "Untitled, , Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach
* "Blue Post and Lintel I", 1965, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
* "Le Baron, , Oakland Museum, Oakland
* "Love in Italian", 1967, Oakland Museum, Oakland
* "Nine Planks, IV", 1974, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla
* "Painting", 1974, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla
* "Right Down", 1967, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San FranciscoUniversity Art Museum, University of California, Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara

Hawaii

* "Blue Post and Lintel", 1970, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii
* "Chimu", 1965, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii
* "Yellow Pyramid", 1965, Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii

Louisiana

* "Plank", 1980, K & B Corporation, New Orleans, Louisiana

New York
* "The Absolutely Naked Fragrance", 1967, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
* "Naxos", 1965, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
* "Untitled (Pink Box)", 1970, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
* "Untitled", 1969, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
* "Violet Block in Two Parts", 1966, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York Washington, D.C.

* "23", 1964, Smithsonian American Art Museum
* Untitled slab painting, resin and fiberglass sculpture, 1981, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Wisconsin

* "You Won't Know Which One Until You've Been to All of Them", 1967, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WisconsinIllinois
* "Red Plank", 1969. The Art Institute of Chicago

International

CanadaOntario

* "Black Box #2", 1971, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

France

* "Wing (Aile)", 1999, French National Art Collection (FNAC)

Bibliography

cite book
title = Heroic Stance: The Sculpture of John McCracken
publisher = Newport Harbor Art Museum
id = ISBN 0-917493-09-5
[http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1163C8G229372.10595&profile=ariall&uri=link=3100006~!200962~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=Browse&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!siartinventories&term=McCracken%2C+John%2C+1934-+%2C+sculptor.&index=AUTHOR#focus|Smithsonian Research Information System - John McCracken]
*Busch, Julia M., [http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/4ed0b0bd878eaf2a.html "A Decade of Sculpture: the New Media in the 1960s"] (The Art Alliance Press: Philadelphia; [http://www.aupresses.com/ Associated University Presses] : London, 1974) ISBN 0-87982-007-1