Eric N. Mack: RARE ESSENCE
May 27 – November 29, 2026
The Speed Art Museum is pleased to present RARE ESSENCE, a new site responsive exhibition by Eric N. Mack in Gheens Court, realized as part of the museum’s Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program. This large-scale installation unfolds as a dynamic constellation of suspended textile paintings that transform one of the museum’s most active public spaces into a shifting, immersive environment—one shaped not only by light and movement, but also by the subtle, accumulative choreography of daily life. On view May 27 through November 29, 2026, these works register the rhythms of arrival and departure, pause and passage, as bodies, air, and atmosphere continually recompose the work.
RARE ESSENCE features an arrangement of recent and older work by Mack, composed of richly varied textiles that range from sheer, translucent fabrics to materials that are painted, dyed, patterned, stained, and worn. The suspended forms hover, fold, and drift, offering a canopy over the volume of the court. The works catch and release light, alternately revealing and obscuring, while the textile’s edges soften the architectural lines.
Situated at a critical architectural and social junction within the museum, Gheens Court connects the original 1927 neoclassical building with the 2016 expansion designed by Kulapat Yantrasast. It is a threshold in every sense: a place where histories meet, where spatial languages shift, and where the museum’s internal circulation gathers and disperses. At the same time, it serves as a vital hub linking the museum’s interactive learning environment, Art Sparks, with primary pathways for visitors, including K–12 school tours, public programs, and community convenings.
Mack’s approach is deeply informed by the legacy of Sam Gilliam (1933-2022), whose groundbreaking experiments with draped and suspended canvases fundamentally redefined the possibilities of painting in the twentieth century. By releasing the canvas from the wall and allowing it to move freely in space, Gilliam expanded painting into an environmental form that engages gravity, architecture, and the movement of the viewer as active elements. Mack extends Gilliam’s lineage through a contemporary lens, weaving together found materials and references to fashion with a sustained attentiveness to how space is inhabited. His work carries forward Gilliam’s radical rethinking of painting while opening it onto new social and spatial conditions.
This exhibition is organized by Diallo Simon-Ponte, Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artist Programs. Additional support is provided by Tyler Blackwell, Curator of Contemporary Art.
Support for the Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program is provided by the Sam Gilliam Foundation.
ABOUT THE SAM GILLIAM VISITING ARTIST PROGRAM
The Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program, conceived of and presented by the Speed Art Museum, invites two contemporary artists each year to Louisville to foster fellowship and generate dialogue with Kentucky artists and community members. In addition to painters, sculptors, and photographers, this program recognizes writers, librarians, archivists, urban planners, community organizers, and agricultural scientists as creative practitioners necessary to the vitality of a local ecosystem. The Sam Gilliam Visiting Artists are invited to contribute a public presentation of their practice, educational workshops, studio visits, film screenings, and/or lectures, culminating in new approaches to public programming both at the Speed Art Museum and beyond. This program is made possible by the Sam Gilliam Foundation.
The Sam Gilliam Visiting Artist Program is led by Diallo Simon-Ponte, the inaugural Sam Gilliam Assistant Curator of Artist Programs. It is co-founded by Tyler Blackwell, Curator of Contemporary Art at Speed Art Museum.