Charting the Terrain: Eric Mack and Pamela Smith Hudson

   

In Charting the Terrain new and recent works by Atlanta-based artist Eric Mack and Los Angeles-based artist Pamela Smith Hudson offer nuanced, abstract perspectives on the West Coast landscape. Both artists create intricate compositions of aerial views that are reminiscent of topographic or satellite maps. 

Their detailed landscapes portray beaches and forests, sites that have recently endured natural and man-made devastation and rejuvenation. Honing in on their surroundings with geometrical, patterned, and grid-like or undulating forms, Mack and Smith Hudson provide new perspectives on this classical genre while reflecting on resolutions to counter environmental disasters.

Over the course of their careers, both of these artists’ styles have evolved considerably. Mack commenced as an illustrator and eventually began incorporating broad brushstrokes and layered patterns. Smith Hudson studied printmaking and now makes textured, mixed media works featuring an organic, painterly style. Exhibiting together for the first time and with distinctive visual vocabularies, their work engages in an intriguing dialog about the West Coast.



Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

Eric Mack, Skate Culture Venice Beach, 2003, Mixed media on canvas, 18” x 32”

Pamela Smith Hudson, Edge, 2011, Collagraph print on paper, original 1, 13 x 15 inches. Photo: Jim McHugh