Eric N. Mack (b. 1987, Columbia, MD) is a painter who radically reconsiders the medium's traditional conventions. By utilizing found materials, Mack creates richly textured compositions that investigate painting in an expanded field and formal concerns of the practice.
Mack has a one-person exhibition and site-specific installation on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH. Concurrently, Mack is presenting new works at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York.
Mack attended The Cooper Union, NY (BFA) and Yale University, CT (MFA) and is the recipient of prestigious awards and residencies including the Chinati Foundation’s Artists in Residence Program (2023); the Rome Prize (2021-2022); the inaugural BALTIC Artists’ Award (2017); the Rauschenberg Residency on Captiva Island (2017); the Delfina Foundation Residency (2017) and the Studio Museum in Harlem Residency (2014-2015).
One-person exhibitions include Eric N. Mack, Paula Cooper Gallery (2023); Scampolo!, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin (2022); Lemme walk across the room, Brooklyn Museum, NY (2019); NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, FL (2021); and In austerity, stripped from its support and worn as a sarong, The Power Station, Dallas, TX (2019). Major group exhibitions include Chronorama Redux, Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2023); Whitney Biennial 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; and Greater New York, MoMA PS1, NY (2015). Work by Mack is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Brooklyn Museum; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; the Studio Museum in Harlem; the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. Mack lives and works in New York.
Eric N. Mack
Mary, 2023
fabric on aluminum stretcher
stretcher: 84 x 70 in. (213.4 x 177.8 cm)
overall: 87 x 83 x 9 in. (221 x 210.8 x 22.9 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Put it on, 2022
polyester, kimono silk, rope, boning, and thread
86 x 85 in. (218.4 x 215.9 cm)
Eric N. Mack
"A This-Year Girl", 2025
magazine pages, silk on moving blanket
71 x 79 in. (180.3 x 200.7 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Star spangled banner for Jasper Jonez, 2024
selection of silks, polyesters, and scrim on aluminum stretcher bar
76 x 74 x 9 in. (193 x 188 x 22.9 cm)
Eric N. Mack
If I Knew Then (What I Know Now), 2024
silk, polyester, acrylic scarves, dyed cotton scarf, missoni knit, American Apparel shirt, and corset boning on aluminum stretcher bar
stretcher: 60 x 49 in. (152.4 x 124.5 cm)
overall: 80.5 x 54 x 14.5 in. (204.5 x 137.2 x 36.8 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Drifter in a Silk Ragshirt, 2021
folding fan, wooden dowels, bleached silk, cotton t-shirt, silk scarves, denim, cotton spandex, satin, and dyed driftwood
94 x 48 x 16 in. (238.8 x 121.9 x 40.6 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Not magic or nor madness, Just the elements I styled, 2023
silk scarves, embroidered wool, polyester, cotton, muslin, polyester ribbon on aluminum stretcher bar
stretcher: 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
overall: 46 x 31 x 4 in. (116.8 x 83.8 x 10.2 cm)
signed verso
Eric N. Mack
Satin and fluid evening dresses, 2023
assorted fabric, steel
overall: 117 x 78 x 55 in. (297.2 x 198.1 x 139.7 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Blue Duet II, 2018
polyester and silk organza
98 1/8 x 107 7/8 x 112 1/8 in. (249.2 x 274 x 284.8 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Parachute, 2021
silk, polyester, acetate and cotton
136 x 110 x 105 in. (345.4 x 279.4 x 266.7 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Face of Spring Summer (FOSS), 2021
cotton, satin, silk, acetate, polyester, acrylic, orange peels, corks, plastic and bone buttons
82 x 218 x 25 in. (208.3 x 553.7 x 63.5 cm)
Eric N. Mack
Landlord, 2021
umbrella, wood flagpoles, metal brackets, fabric collage, thread
dimensions variable
Installation view, Eric N. Mack, Sarong, 2023, in Chronorama Redux at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, March 12, 2023 – January 7, 2024. © Palazzo Grassi. Photo: Marco Cappelletti
Installation view, Halter (2019), Desert X 2019, Coachella Valley, CA. Courtesy Desert X. Photo: Lance Gerber
Installation view, Eric N. Mack: Lemme walk across the room, Brooklyn Museum, January 11–July 7, 2019. Courtesy the Brooklyn Museum. Photo: Jonathan Dorado.
