The late artist and activist Michael Tracy is known for color-saturated paintings, assembled and cast sculptures and mixed-media objects that challenge conventional beauty while addressing issues of faith, ritual, immigration and the environment. In remarkable symmetry, the McNay Art Museum hosted Tracy’s first museum exhibition in 1971 and his works return in the last exhibition he was directly involved with before his recent death at age 80.

The exhibition surveys approximately two decades of his career, and many of the works — paintings, sculptures and mixed media abstract objects — have never been exhibited before. The presentation will feature large-scale paintings spanning floor to ceiling while an original soundscape commissioned from composer Omar Zubair will complete the environment.

'Michael Tracy: The Elegy of Distance' is organized for the McNay Art Museum by René Paul Barilleaux, Head of Curatorial Affairs; and Christopher Rincón, President, Michael Tracy Foundation and Director, River Pierce Foundation.

Major funding is provided by the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions and Peter M. Holt. Additional support is provided by the Flora Crichton Visiting Artist Fund; Semmes Foundation, Inc.; Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992; Christopher C. Hill; Louis H. and Mary Patricia Stumberg Foundation; and Sara Paschall Dodd-Denton.