John McCracken Totally Explained

Everything about John Mccracken totally explained

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. 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 Francisco University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara Santa 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 Wisconsin
You Won't Know Which One Until You've Been to All of Them, 1967, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Illinois
"Red Plank", 1969. The Art Institute of Chicago
International
Canada Ontario
Black Box #2, 1971, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto France
Wing (Aile), 1999, French National Art Collection (FNAC)
Bibliography

Research Information System - John McCracken
Busch, Julia M., A Decade of Sculpture: the New Media in the 1960's (The Art Alliance Press: Philadelphia; Associated University Presses: London, 1974) ISBN 0-87982-007-1

Further Information
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