John McCracken

John McCracken was an American Minimalist best known for his Planks, plinth-like reflective sculptures painted in various hues. In order to create the monochrome finish of his works, McCracken used fiberglass and resin to coat wooden planks which he polished to create intensely smooth surfaces before applying thin stains of paint. “My works are minimal and reduced, but also maximal,” the artist has said of his work. “I try to make them concise, clear statements in three-dimensional form, and also to take them to a breathtaking level of beauty.” Born on December 9, 1934 in Berkeley, CA, he went on to study painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, where he earned a BFA. McCracken was influenced by the first generation of Minimalist artists that emerged in the 1960s, including Donald Judd and Dan Flavin. After completing his degree, the artist became a part of the Light and Space movement, a subsect of Minimalism formed by James Turrell, Robert Irwin, and Larry Bell. McCracken died on April 8, 2011 in New York, NY. Today, his works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, among others.