John McCracken

John McCracken was born in 1934 in Berkeley, California. As a pioneering figure in Minimalism whose work explore the relationship between form, space and perception, McCracken contributed a distinctly West Coast voice to the art movement.

Following his high-school graduation, McCracken joined the United States Navy where he served for four years before enrolling in the California College of Arts and Crafts. There, he became associated with the ‘Finish Fetish’ movement in Los Angeles, which emphasised sleek, industrial surfaces and meticulous craftsmanship.

McCracken’s most iconic works are his Planks, a series of slender, polished, rectangular forms that are positioned leaning against a wall, engaging both the two-dimensional space of painting and the three-dimensional space of sculpture. These pieces, typically made from plywood, fiberglass and resin, are finished with highly reflective surfaces that create a seamless interplay between the object, its environment and the viewer. The lean of the planks against the wall evokes a sense of precarious balance and tension, yet they remain elegant and commanding in their simplicity.

The use of industrial materials and high-gloss finishes in McCracken’s work also reflects the influence of California’s car and surfing culture. As the first generation of Minimalist artists that emerged in the 1960s, McCracken’s West Coast works provided a unique interpretation of the movement that was different from what was being created in New York at the time. The artist was also associated with the Light and Space movement, alongside James Turrell, Robert Irwin and Larry Bell, but McCracken often cited works by Barnett Newman, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Carl Andre as his biggest influences.

John McCracken died in 2011 at the age of 76. Throughout his career, McCracken remained committed to exploring the possibilities of geometric abstraction and purity of form. His work has been widely exhibited and now part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and other major institutions.

In 2015, McCracken’s Untitled (1970) sold at Christie’s New York for US$965,000, establishing a world auction record for the artist.