#8 - 1963

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John McLaughlin’s #8 – 1963 is an example of reductivism, or minimalism, a type of early-to-mid-20th-century abstract painting that emphasized the reduction of an artistic idea to its most basic and essential components. Reductivist paintings are intended to be seen as objects, and not as narrative images. McLaughlin was informed not by art school training, but rather by his own investigations into American and Japanese art history and Zen Buddhism. He insisted that his paintings had no real meaning, and were instead egoless and transcendental, created to instill in the viewer a feeling of tranquility and inspire personal contemplation.

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