Untitled 2-3-71 [study for "tattoo" book] 1971

James McCracken Jr. made this study for a "tattoo" book with ink on paper sometime in 1971. Look at these wormy, fleshy, looping forms floating on the page. You can feel the artist sketching, shifting, trying out shapes, maybe thinking about the human body, and the kind of images that feel good to wear on it. These marks are so direct, like he’s channeling something, a vision of what he wants to see in the world. I can imagine him hunched over a table, the pen scratching across the paper as he searches for the right forms, the right combination of curves and angles. He’s not precious, he’s just working. There's a skull shape towards the bottom, but the other marks could be anything. The whole sheet feels so alive with possibility. It reminds me of the ecstatic drawings of Forrest Bess. It's like McCracken is tapping into a primal language, a kind of visual slang that speaks directly to the subconscious. Artists are always riffing off each other across time, coming up with new ways to feel.