Mack was born in Columbia, Maryland. He attended Suitland High School in Forestville Maryland for their well known CVPA(Center for Visual and Performing Arts) Program where he majored in Sculpture, Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking. His middle name is National, after Washington DC's National Gallery of Art—where his parents met.[5] At an early age, Mack worked for his father at his discount clothing store interacting with a spectrum of fashions and fabrics.[6] Mack's fabric collages often include a spectrum of materials such as moving blankets, bandanas, and other found or locally sourced fabrics.[3]
Mack received his BFA from The Cooper Union in 2010 and his MFA from Yale in 2012. In a 2019 interview with Mahfuz Sultan for PIN-UP Magazine, he is quoted stating that he made most of his work outside while at Yale.[7]
Exhibitions and residencies
Solo exhibitions
Eric N. Mack, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (2022)[8]
Eric N. Mack: Cuts, Móran Móran, Mexico City, Mexico (2022)
Eric N. Mack: Lemme walk across the room, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida (based on an exhibition originally presented by the Brooklyn Museum) (2021–2022)
Eric N. Mack: Face It, Móran Móran, Los Angeles, California (2020)
In austerity, stripped from its support and worn as a sarong, The Power Station, Dallas, Texas (2019)
Dye Lens, Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2019)
Lemme walk across the room, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2019)
the BALTIC Artists’ Award 2017, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (2017)
Eric Mack: Vogue Fabrics, Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York (2017)
Eric N. Mack: Never Had A Dream, Móran Móran, Los Angeles, California (2015)
Group exhibitions
Looking Back / The 12th White Columns Annual, curated by Mary Manning, White Columns (2022)
Whitney Biennial, 2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York (2019)
Grace Wales Bonner: A Time for New Dreams, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK (2018)