John McCracken (artist)

After graduating from high school, McCracken served in the United States Navy for four years before enrolling in the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning a B.F.A.

While experimenting with increasingly three-dimensional canvases, McCracken began to produce art objects made with industrial techniques and materials.

[2] Later McCracken was part of the Light and Space movement that includes James Turrell, Peter Alexander, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Noni Grevillea, and others.

In interviews, however, he usually cited his greatest influences as the hard edge works of the abstract expressionist Barnett Newman and minimalists like Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and Carl Andre.

[3] In 1966, McCracken generated his signature sculptural form: the plank, a narrow, monochromatic, rectangular board format that leans at an angle against the wall (the site of painting) while simultaneously entering into the three-dimensional realm and physical space of the viewer.

He conceived the plank idea in a period when artists across the stylistic spectrum were combining aspects of painting and sculpture in their work and many were experimenting with sleek, impersonal surfaces.

While the polished resin surface recalls the aesthetic of 1960s southern California surfboard and Kustom Kar cultures, the title was drawn from advertising slogans in fashion magazines.

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.

Other recent solo exhibitions include Inverleith House at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (2009) and the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.