Untitled 1976

This untitled work by John McCracken uses simple materials to create something that vibrates between painting and sculpture, and explores how these mediums engage with the space around them. The surface is smooth and reflective, almost like a mirror, but the dark red hue overlaid with a dark, geometric pattern prevents it from purely reflecting its surroundings. The dark marks of the lozenge pattern have an incredible presence. It’s clear McCracken relishes the materiality of his medium, embracing the way the resin might pool and gather, or the way the pigment catches the light. McCracken’s work has a conceptual depth that draws on Minimalism while also pointing towards something more metaphysical. Barnett Newman comes to mind, who also used vertical forms to evoke spiritual experiences through a distilled visual language. This piece shows us that art doesn’t have to be complicated to be profound. It's an open question.