Matthew Day Jackson

Peter Blum Gallery, New York 

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, List Visual Arts Center and Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Matthew Day Jackson: The Immeasurable Distance, May 2009 - January 2010, p. 76, 79, 82, 83 and 85, illustrated in color

Ballroom Marfa, Autobody, September 2011 - January 2012

For Heart of Prometheus, Matthew Day Jackson commissioned “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, the American race car driver considered the godfather of drag racing, to build a display version of his 1957 Chrysler Hemi Drag racing motor from his legendary Swamp Rat VI dragster. Swamp Rat VI, one of Garlits’ most significant self-designed race cars, was the first to exceed 200 mph in the quarter mile, a groundbreaking feat he achieved in 1964.

The title, Heart of Prometheus, alludes to the Promethean myth, in which the Titan defied the gods by taking fire for humanity, suffering grievous consequences for his display of hubris. Garlits’ engine—constructed from previously raced parts—embodied a similar pursuit of near superhuman velocity. Jackson is particularly drawn to the notion that such power had historically been controlled by governmental and industrial institutions, yet Garlits, an ordinary citizen, employed his own ingenuity to wrest this ‘fire’ from those established authorities. His quest, however, was not without profound physical sacrifice—he sustained severe injuries, including the loss of part of his foot and a near-fatal incident in which he was engulfed in flames behind a burning engine. Nevertheless, Garlits persisted, continuing to advance both driving techniques and engine design with remarkable determination.