Break 2008

John McCracken made this deep red, glossy, rectangular sculpture, Break, out of resin and fiberglass. I bet he kept on polishing it, to make it so smooth! I sympathize with John, actually. I know that he worked for ages trying to get his surface just right. He was trying to create a perfectly smooth and reflective surface. His works are so gorgeous, and they are gorgeous in the same way that a custom car is gorgeous – it's all about surface tension. Like, how does the viewer interact with this work? We are looking at a monolith that demands interaction. It gives the viewer an opportunity to contemplate something – maybe even the void! He was in dialogue with other artists like Barnett Newman, who also explored abstraction and transcendence. You can see the influence of Minimalism here, but McCracken also brought his own unique sensibility to his work. Ultimately, he invites us to slow down and reconsider our relationship with space and objecthood. Artists have always borrowed, stolen and responded to each other's work. It's all one big conversation!