R. Eric McMaster

Using the structures of competitive sport, R. Eric McMaster’s work feature themes of obedience, vulnerability, resistance, and eventual acceptance. While all of these traits are apparent in sporting events, they can also be found in societal situations; as such his work mixes both easily read, ever-insistent sport regulations and the veiled societal interactions that manipulate humanities’ natural first response.

For example, in soccer, the initial reaction to catch a ball flying to a player’s torso is curbed by the handball restriction of the game. There is a conscious decision on the part of the player to accept a change in his/ her natural response in order to play the game. McMaster’s work delves into that acceptance, and what it could mean for large-scale social situations. Using sports out of context allows McMaster’s work to draw attention to the lack of the genuine, be it subtle or obvious.

R. Eric McMaster has shown extensively, including exhibitions New York, Paris, Hiroshima, New Delhi, Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle and Phoenix, among others. He is a recipient of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship, the Ted Decker Catalyst Fund and numerous scholastic grants and scholarships. He is also the winner of Press Street’s 2014 open call.

R. Eric McMaster holds an MFA in Sculpture from Arizona State University, a BFA in Sculpture from the Pennsylvania State University. From 2008-2013, he taught at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Sculpture and Extended Media Department. R. Eric McMaster currently lives and works in Austin, Texas, where he teaches studio courses and supervises the art department’s Digital Fabrication Lab at the University of Texas.

An artist walkthrough will be held Thursday, October 2^nd from 7 to 9 P.M.

Further Information

More information on R. Eric McMaster, and a collection of his past works, can be found on his website at www.rericmcmaster.com.