Ian was skeeting about not having enough time to write properly about seeing Eric N. Mack’s shows at the Wexner in Columbus and the Academy of Arts & Letters in NYC. Which threw me off, tbqh, because I did not expect the epic timeline of Mack’s major career hits and deepcuts he whipped up for 202 Arts Review.
There are images and links galore, and it really does pull Mack’s public practice together in a way that makes a road trip to Columbus feel inevitable. Mack’s sculptural and painterly resonances have expanded from early DC encounters with the canvas-slash-textiles of Sam Gilliam and Kenneth Noland to Rauschenberg, Nengudi, Hammons, Genzken, and far beyond. But Mack’s work is also clearly, even primarily, about his own references and explorations.
Helen Molesworth describing the Wexner’s architecture as an argument in space finally made it make sense. Which makes the view from above of Mack’s commission, A Whole New Thing, after you climb the stairs, something of a revelation, or a reveal. It’s the opposite of a spoiler, though, because the approach and the movement through it, as seen in other of Ian’s photos, feels like three other works entirely.
OH to NY: Eric N. Mack [202arts.org]
Eric N. Mack: All the Oohs, and All the Aahs [wexart.org]