After graduating from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1965, John McCracken (1934 - 2011) transitioned from making abstract paintings and sculptural reliefs to building monochromatic, geometric sculptures. He strived to transport his three-dimensional forms to a "breathtaking level of beauty" that reflected his fascination with the universe, extraterrestrials and otherworldly matter. Inherently reductive in form, McCracken's blocks, slabs, columns, planks and neutral forms also incorporate the architecture in which they are exhibited and take into account the viewer's perspective. Highly polished, reflective surfaces enhance the pure, saturated color that permeates McCracken's architectonic forms.