Erotic Vultures

In 2012, Mac created a series of erotic charcoal figure studies for a winter exhibition at Grape & Grain, a restaurant and wine bar in New York City’s East Village. The venue was a popular destination for first dates, so Mac designed the artwork to provoke discussion with creative and sexual juxtapositions that inspire intimate curiosity and conversation.

Each piece began as a rorschach figure drawing with elements sourced from pornography and nude photographs. Mac would adjust the composition, orientation, and contrast of each image to mask the overy graphic nature of the content (some with more success than others). The resulting work was intended to be highly provocative and visually striking. Given the brick backdrop of the venue, Mac improvised the framing of each piece by weaving the drawings into a dreamweaver frame made of white birch branches. The resulting contrast proved to be a great fit for the venue and holiday season. Mac titled the show after the song Subbacultcha, by The Pixies.

Erotic Vultures immediately became a popular attraction for young and new couples. The restaurant was fully booked all winter and the exhibition was extended several months at the request of patrons and staff. “In retrospect, it’s funny to think about all of the conversations that people were having around these drawings,” says Mac. “I visited a couple times just to take in the air and the energy. It wasn’t like I heard people talking about the artwork, though the bartenders told me they often did, but the sense of energy in the room was palpably different.”