Philip McCracken is well-known for his highly stylized birds, but in his career, he has embraced an impressive variety of forms and media. His signature birds are important, because they illustrate how he connects the images of several cultures. First, he is an artist out of the European tradition, and he matured as an artist in the mid-century which was a period heavily influenced by Japanese art and architecture. His work as well as many of the artists of that time including his friend Morris Graves reflects that influence. Lastly, his work connects to Pacific Coast Native culture in spirit and in form, and like Guy Anderson, it produces insightful connections to Native imagery.

Realistic art has a relationship to the exterior contours of the depicted object. In McCracken’s new work, which is featured in the enclosed catalog, he takes a different direction; these sculptures are imaginings of interior objects lifted from their context inside those exterior contours.