Have you seen the cool mural that adorns our façade on Broad Street? The mural is a piece by Eric Mack, a local artist. Our public art project manager, Dorian McDuffie, sat down with him to discuss his background and process.
Where are you from?
“I was born in Charleston, South Carolina and raised in Goose Creek, South Carolina until I graduated at age 17 and moved to Atlanta to attend the Atlanta College of Art.”
When did you discover your interest in art?
“Probably in elementary school. My mom was a part-time librarian at Trident Technical College in Charleston. My curiosity was nurtured there early on; I spent every day after school with her in the college library getting exposed to real literature.”
“At the time, breakdancing was coming on the scene and you had to have your cardboard and all of your utilities. I would make drawings of dudes doing different breakdancing moves (backspin, the Egyptian move), hats to the side, the symbols – full details. I would sell the drawings in school for fifty cents.”
“I went from selling breakdancing drawings to jeans and clothing. Rap videos started coming out and I would look at the styles from musicians I liked, and use paint markers to draw on jeans. I had a big, yellow Bart Simpson on one leg and then I would have my name in big letters running down the front with the New York Knicks and Public Enemy symbols in the back.”
Artist Eric Mack at Mack’s Barbershop.
“Once I wore it to school -- that was it. I was going home with two and three pairs of jeans and jean shorts. Football players were giving me their clothing and their numbers to paint along with the Stratford Knights (our high school).”
“Then I started cutting hair. At the time Kid & Play was big so I had the high-top fade. I always liked to push the envelope. I started cutting designs in my hair, like Big Daddy Cane. By the tenth grade, I had a barber shop called Mack’s Barbershop. I’m selling art, just not on paper – they were wearing it.”
Who are some of your influences?
“My work is formed by systems, patterns and forms, so I look at a lot of architecture. My favorite architect is Dame Zaha Hadid. She’s the bomb. Her forms, the compositions, the deconstructive style of architecture that she’s known for. In contemporary installation art, there’s an artist named Sarah Sze.”
What does your artwork represent for you?
“…My life and things that I like. Everything that I’ve put into the work has always moved me, whether it be flyers, typography, a funny saying. In some of my older work I would put in random discipline reports from school. Some of them were funny. I had cut class and my Spanish teacher was going in on me and I sat down, I looked at her and said “(forget) this (crap).” I went into the office and they typed it verbatim and I kept it and worked it into the work. Things that make me laugh and things that stimulate me visually.”
“I don’t get bored quickly, but I want to be entertained. So, I like to make work that entertains me. If the viewer can join in on that entertainment, great, but the work is not made for the viewer. I’m making what I want to look at. If someone buys the work, I’m super excited but if they don’t, that work can live with me at my home studio for the rest of my days because I made what I wanted to look at.”
Talk to me about your work, do you have a specific palette? What else informs your work?
“The feeling around the idea. One of my past shows was geared towards looking at architecture and its influence. So, my palette used colors associated with construction, soils, different wood tones, cement and asphalt, that mixed with other tones that I like.”
“Also, visual systems. Before architecture it was systems found in our natural world. I look at furniture, architecture, botanical inspiration…it’s all symmetry, divine proportion and repetition of shape, pattern and form.”
Where are you currently showing?
“I’ll be showing at White Space Gallery in Atlanta and Channel to Channel Gallery in Nashville in 2020.”
Tell me about where you work and what you do.
“I’m teaching at Kipp Strive Primary. It’s really fulfilling to work with young minds. I’m doing something really good and trying to be a positive influence because I’m working in the West End. What you find out about children is that they teach you what is going on in the community. It’s not the adults, it’s the children. They inform you by how they act, how they move around, what they say. I’ve connected with that community in ways I never would or could have if I wasn’t working in education.”
Was the mural at the Atlanta City Studio your first mural?
“It was the first mural using my design. I’m known for two-dimensional works but over the years I’ve done a lot of three-dimensional pieces as well. The first mural I did was at Kipp Collegiate High School about five years ago. I collaborated with Brandon Sadler (a noted graffiti artist in Atlanta). It was for the Jesse Owens movie. They wanted it to help inspire different students. I needed Brandon to work with me because I never worked outdoors before.”
What was your experience like working on the mural?
“At first, I said, “I’m honored that you all like the work, but do you really want me to paint on the exterior?” You said, “Yeah!” I said, “Wow, it sounds like she believes in me.” Once the sketch was done it brought it all to reality. Once I got through to the second color, I said, “I can do this.” and I saw it. The peacock green was working with the burgundy, then I said, “OK, this is mine!” Then I couldn’t stay away from it. I would get there at seven in the morning work until 5:30, go home, pick up my daughter, eat, put her to sleep, then I’m back at the mural at 8:00 (at night), stay until 1:30 even 2:00 (in the morning). At first, I thought I would have to spend a couple hundred dollars on security but what I found out is that when you’re out there making art, a lot of negative vibration might see you, but you’re not going to attract that kind of element.”
“Art was the great unifier on a dark Broad Street night. A lot of people are giving comments, but they are in the form of jovial questions. Of course, people asked for spare change, but no one came at me or made me feel unsafe. It was totally cool.”
What do you hope for Broad Street and downtown in general?
“I think that there’s a lot of potential. There’s a lot of energy in this area. The bikes are out people are walking, they’re walking their dogs… There’s a lot of residents in the area that would support businesses. Number one, the community wants something that can cater to them. They want something that they can be proud of in their area.”
“There was a father and his two kids. The son comes up to me and asks what I’m doing. I tell him I’m doing a project for the City. He said, “I’m an artist.” I told him “I’d like to see some of your work some time.” He told me that he had some work in his book bag and pulled it out. He unrolls it, it looked like a color-field abstract painting. What I know working in education, is that they might not remember what you say but they remember how they felt. He might remember, once the mural is complete, that he talked to the man that made that mural and I showed him my artwork. He’ll have that memory.”