Artwork
Corazon del Sol
Artist
Michael Tracy
(American, 1943 - 2024)
DepartmentContemporary Art
Date1987-1990
Dimensions108 × 76 in. (274.3 × 193 cm), overall
Credit LineSan Antonio Museum of Art, gift of ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio
Object number93.91.a-b
Copyright© Michael Tracy Foundation
Label Text"Painting is grounded in tradition. It promises a
classic variety of personal truths, offers a plethora
of exalted illustrations, and demands what I con-
sider a near mindless and totally unjustified respect
and devotion to its historical effects designated as 'the
esthetic continuum of mankind.'"
Michael Tracy
Tracy has held a longtime interest in the religious or spiritual function of art. In his gold paintings, which he began making in the late 1960s, he uses the sumptuousness of a gilded esthetic, commonly found in religious altars by Old European Masters such as Duccio and Giotto, as well as in traditional Mexican and Mesoamerican art. Tracy combines this traditional esthetic with a contemporary stylistic vocabulary known as monochromatic Color Field painting, which was popular throughout the 1960s-80s. The title of this example, which translates as "Heart of the Sun", reflects Tracy's process of painting outdoors so that the surface becomes crusty as it dries in the heat of the sun. On another level, the title calls attention to the sun as an object of devotional reverence, as manifested in the religious practices of numerous cultures throughout history. Tracy, in fact, considers the sun to be a symbol of infinity.
(David Rubin, Label Text 2007)Not on view
Collections
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
