McArthur Binion

McArthur Binion (born November 25, 1946, Macon, Mississippi) is an American artist whose work bridges abstraction, personal history, and conceptual practice. Associated with the development of Minimalism and conceptual abstraction in the late twentieth century, Binion is best known for his distinctive “hand:work" paintings that layer minimalist formal structures over photocopied images of personal documents such as birth certificates, address books, and pages from his passport. Raised in rural Mississippi before relocating to Detroit as a teenager, Binion’s early experiences in the American South and the industrial Midwest continue to inform his practice. His paintings often consist of repeated hand-drawn marks—usually in grid-like compositions—made with oil stick, crayon, or ink on surfaces that incorporate these photocopied autobiographical materials. The resulting works operate simultaneously as abstractions and as records of lived experience, embedding personal narrative within formal systems associated with modernist painting. By merging autobiography with minimalist language, Binion repositions abstraction as a vehicle for identity, memory, and Black lived experience. His method emphasizes labor, repetition, and material presence, foregrounding the physical act of mark-making as both a conceptual and emotional gesture. The visible layering of text, photographs, and documents beneath his painted surfaces creates a tension between concealment and revelation, suggesting that personal histories remain embedded even when partially obscured. Binion’s work has been widely exhibited internationally and is held in major institutional collections. Over the past decade, he has gained renewed critical attention for his significant contributions to contemporary abstraction and his role in expanding the narrative possibilities of minimalist painting. He lives and works in Chicago.