Erik N. Mack describes himself as a painter though he rarely uses paint. “I remind myself that painting is at first a fluid medium,” he told Pin-Up Magazine in 2019. “My work materializes from a series of questions about painting. What it is, but also what it is not.” Mack, known for making compositions with fabric and other found objects, is presenting his first solo exhibition at Paula Cooper. Striving to create a connection “between the viewer and the painting object,” the artist anchors his work in the everyday. Considering themes like regeneration, Mack gives a new life to old textiles. And although he works with fabric, he refuses to be understood within the context of the “loaded conversation” of fashion. Instead he uses the term “garment culture,” and ties his ideas to routine processes like going to work or school. —Jeanne Malle