Untitled 1-17-71 [study for "tattoo" book] 1971

James McCracken Jr. made this drawing, probably with ink on paper, in 1971. The dense accumulation of images and symbols make this feel like it was produced almost compulsively. It's such an unfiltered outpouring. The shapes are simple but powerful, evoking a raw, almost primal energy. You can sense the artist's hand in every line, every curve. It’s a world of tools, skulls, guns, hearts, sex symbols and dismembered bodies all rendered in stark black against the white of the paper. The dark ink feels both definite and mysterious, like secrets etched onto the page. Look how the starkness of the black makes the negative space around each symbol charged with potential. It reminds me a bit of the raw intensity of outsider artists like Adolf Wölfli, who also poured their inner worlds onto paper with such unbridled energy. Like Wölfli, McCracken Jr. seems less interested in traditional artistic concerns and more driven by a personal, almost urgent need to make his mark. It’s a testament to the power of art as a vehicle for self-expression, regardless of training or conventions. It remains open, alive, and full of possibilities.