Eric N. Mack (b. 1987, Columbia, MD) lives and works in New York. He completed his MFA at Yale University, New Haven, CT in 2012 after finishing his BFA at The Cooper Union in New York, NY in 2010. Mack refers to himself as a painter, yet his works rarely observe the medium’s traditional canvas-to-stretcher format. Rather, his tactile assemblages, created from a dynamic combination of used textiles, worn clothes, moving blankets and torn rags, alongside photographs and pull outs from books and magazines, extend and transform the notion of painting. His use of colour, form and material as elements in a compositional lexicon as well as the stained or dyed fabrics which are his principal medium, declare the origin of his practice in the investigation of painting in an expanded field, while the way his compositions occupy and transform space are evidence of their sculptural nature. Recomposed with oil and acrylic paint, fabrics are hung using ropes and rods so that each architectural composition expands into the viewer’s space. In this way, Mack interrogates the very nature of painting, opening up a dialogue that explores the performative qualities inherent to his process. With its use of accumulated, found and sourced materials, Mack’s work grapples with the schism that exists between fashion and art. From a young age, Mack was fascinated by the world of fashion, sometimes working in his father’s discount clothing store. Employing a diverse array of textiles – some aesthetic, some utilitarian, most discarded, their use-value depleted – Mack’s paintings investigate how different materials reflect identity. The variety of sources assembled in Mack’s artworks leads to the creation of a non-hierarchical system, refusing to privilege the readymade over the hand crafted, or one history over another. Selected solo exhibitions include those at Simon Lee Gallery, London (2021 and 2018); Morán Morán, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY (2019); Power Station, Dallas, TX (2019); Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2017); and Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (2017). Recent group exhibitions include: Unbound, Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA (2020); Desert X, Rancho Mirage, CA (2019); Grace Wales Bonner: A Time for New Dreams, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2019); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (2019); The Vitalist Economy of Painting, Galerie Neu, Berlin, Germany (2018); Sculptures, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, NY; Inherent Structure, The Wexner Center, Columbus, OH; Blue Black, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, MO (2017); Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2017); Making & Unmaking: An Exhibition curated by Duro Olowu, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK (2016); and Greater New York 2015, MOMA PS1, Long Island City, NY (2015). In 2020, Mack turned his hand to curating with a group exhibition titled Pedestrian Profanities at Simon Lee Gallery in New York, NY. Mack has been an artist in resident at the Kaleidoscope Residency, Milan, Italy (2018); Delfina Foundation, London, UK (2017); Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva Island, FL (2017); and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (2014-15). He is represented by Simon Lee Gallery in London and Hong Kong and Morán Morán in Los Angeles.