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Thu, Mar 13, 2025
Gallery presentation will be accompanied by an installation in the center’s lobby
As part of its fall 2025 exhibitions season, the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University will present a show dedicated to the work of the category-defying artist Eric N. Mack titled All the Oohs, and the Aahs (on view August 22, 2025–January 11, 2026). And in keeping with the spirit of his practice, Mack’s presence at the multidisciplinary contemporary arts center will extend beyond the galleries, into its lobby.
Mack, whose work was previously seen at the Wex in the 2018 group exhibition Inherent Structure, questions the constructs that typically apply to painting or sculpture and explores fabric’s ability to evoke emotional responses. He combines disparate materials and methods to form medium- and large-scale installations.
Mack mobilizes an archival fabric collection gathered from around the world to create immersive, layered constructions that invite visitors to explore the physical presence of objects. The fabrics—from mass-produced to bespoke designer textiles—evoke cultural, historical, and personal narratives. Together with Mack’s view of painting as a fertile ground of exploration, these elements inform an artistic practice that pushes the boundaries of making and experiencing art.
For example, there is Mack’s 2019 exhibition for the Brooklyn Museum, Lemme walk across the room. Visitors had to walk through the site-responsive installation to get to the wall text that introduced the exhibition, a layout that intentionally made the artwork the first point of engagement. As the artist has noted, through this subversive act of confronting visitors, he asks, “What is the painting? What is the exhibition space? What is my physical relationship to sculpture? What does it look like for me to walk through an exhibition?”
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. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York. Photo: Steven Probert
Mack's probing of culture arises in works like The bell rings and the pendulum swings (2018), Landlord (2021), and Drifter in a Silk Ragshirt (2021). It transforms a blanket into a wall canvas that holds streaks of dye intermixed with magazine cutouts of celebrity figures such as Mary J. Blige and Lil Wayne. The work reflects Mack’s indebtedness to the Abstract Expressionists, but also to figures such as the groundbreaking 1990s designer and stylist Misa Hylton-Brim and the iconic Lil Kim. It highlights Mack’s work in forging new pathways for understanding how material, the body, and identity intersect in the contemporary world.
The Wex exhibition will offer a selection of recent works by Mack in the galleries and a lobby installation titled A Whole New Thing that speaks to his wide-ranging influences, as well as his interest in engaging viewers through artworks that reach beyond the walls.
An Exhibitions Opening Celebration will take place Friday, August 22, 5–9 PM.
A Wex Open House happening Sunday, August 25 from 4 to 7 PM will welcome students back to campus with activities including artmaking and gallery experiences with educators.
More events will be announced in the weeks leading up to the exhibition. Updates can be found at wexarts.org.
Eric N. Mack lives and works in New York. He received his BFA from The Cooper Union and his MFA from Yale University.
In 2017, Mack was the recipient of the inaugural BALTIC Artists’ Award, selected by artist Lorna Simpson. The same year, he completed the Rauschenberg Residency in Captiva Island, Florida, and was artist-in-residency at Delfina Foundation, London.
Institutional solo exhibitions include Lemme walk across the room, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2019); In austerity, stripped from its support and worn as a sarong, The Power Station, Dallas, Texas (2019); and Eric Mack: Vogue Fabrics, Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (2017). Major group exhibitions include the Whitney Biennial 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Ungestalt, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2017); In the Abstract, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (2017); and Blue Black, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, Missouri (2017). Mack’s work is in the permanent collections of Albright-Knox Art Gallery, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.Updated July 18, 2025
