Christine Mack on the Joy of Art Collecting and Her Upcoming Exhibit at Southampton Arts Center: 'Beyond the Present: Collecting for the Future'

To Southampton Arts Center Executive Director Christina Mossaides-Strassfield, Christine Mack is a “modern-day Medici” — an art collector who emphasizes, recognizes and uplifts the work of lesser-known, under-recognized artists.

Mack has been collecting art for over 20 years, and beginning this weekend a curated selection of that collection goes on view at the Southampton Arts Center in “Beyond the Present: Collecting for the Future.” The exhibit was curated by Mossaides-Strassfield alongside award-winning art historian and ArtMuse founder Natasha Schlesinger.

Though Christine Mack now has more artwork in her collection than available wall space, she still remembers the first piece she ever collected: Amy Myers’ “Kalpa” from 2001 — a very large geometric painting consisting of concentric circles that come together to form a flower. “Kalpa” hangs at the entrance to Mack’s Bridgehampton home.

“It’s still my favorite painting,” Mack said.

Mack didn’t grow up collecting art. In fact, she believes she started collecting quite late, all things considered.

“I was only exposed to art in museums when we visited them in school,” Mack said. She was specifically influenced by Moderna Museet in her native city of Stockholm, where she now sits on the board. “All those iconic works in the Moderna of Dali and Rauschenberg were always familiar to me, but I didn’t know much about art history until I moved to New York.”

While studying graphic design and advertising at Parsons, Mack was inspired by the vast art scene Manhattan had to offer, and that’s where her passion for the art world began.

“When I started collecting art, I really dove into it and became completely obsessed,” she said.

For Mack, collecting tends to be thematic.

“I really do collect in depth in different themes,” she said. “First it was Black artists — I collected a lot of Black artists early on. Then I collected a lot of young female artists that were working in the surreal, like Loie Hollowell and Angela Heisch.

“What I try to do when I find an artist that I feel is amazing is collect two or three works by that artist, because this way I can always keep a work, and I can donate a work,” she continued.

Other, more recent themes in Mack’s collecting have been ceramics, queer artists’ work, and paintings by female artists that focus on moving away from the male gaze.

Mack also emphasized the importance of including emerging artists’ voices in her collection. Along with “holding on” to the more personal pieces by up and coming artists, Mack also helps these artists exhibit work with big-name galleries and collaborate with publications through a residency program sponsored by the Mack Art Foundation, her nonprofit organization dedicated to giving exposure to artists that are not from New York, whether that means they are from another state or another country. The organization is based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

“Coming to New York as a young Swedish girl, there were so many opportunities here, and it was so exciting,” Mack said. “I really wanted to give those opportunities to somebody else in a similar situation.”

Mack said she is working to expand the residency for locals as well; artists living in Brooklyn or Manhattan who don’t need housing. The local hub will focus on a new mission — to connect nonrepresented artists to art collectors or art representation in the area. The foundation also works alongside and sponsors art fairs and collaborates with brands around the world.

Mack makes sure, through maintaining strong relationships with galleries and artists alike, that the money donated to the foundation through selling appreciated works to galleries always goes back to helping artists grow.

“The more I work with artists, and the more that my foundation grows, I care less about the art and more about the artists themselves,” Mack said. “It’s art helping art.”

The title of the exhibit, “Beyond the Present: Collecting for the Future,” speaks directly to Mack’s appreciation for and support of emerging artists and their impact on the current artistic climate.

“Why I love emerging artists and their art is because they are reflecting on what’s going on in their world today,” Mack said. Even when collecting works from the 1980s and 1990s, Mack steers toward pieces that are in conversation with the culture of that period. That way, when she looks back on her gallery, she said, she can see what was going on in the world through the art that reflected the time.

“I’m collecting for the future, meaning that the art that I’m collecting today will be saying something meaningful when you look back at it years later,” Mack said. “I’m interested in the artists painting today, and it’s important for them to be supported.”

The exhibition, which Mack said includes upward of 75 pieces, spans work from the 1980s up to 2025. One of the galleries is dedicated solely to artists in Mack Art Foundation’s residency program. After leaving the program, each artist donates a piece to the foundation that Mack said is usually quite personal.

Mack shared an experience she had with the artist Callum Eaton, a British hyperrealist, who created a giant version of a Swedish candy bar that Mack had brought to him whenever they met at the gallery while he was in the residency program. The gesture, she said, speaks to the close relationships she cultivates with each artist she works with.

“I’m so excited to share these experiences with people coming to see the exhibition, and for them to see these artists, how incredibly talented they are,” Mack said. “I really want to encourage people to start supporting artists in any way, shape or form.”

Finally, curators Schlesinger and Mossaides-Strassfield spoke with excitement about working with Mack for the exhibition.

“The show came together to reflect Christine’s collecting practice, which skews to the figurative, as well as her Mack Foundation Residency,” said Schlesinger. “She champions women artists, artists of color and international artists … We wanted the show to reflect the enthusiasm and energy of Mack’s collection, and how passionate she is about emerging talent.”

“It has been a pleasure and honor to work with Christine Mack on this exhibition,” added Mossaides-Strassfield. “Each time we discussed a piece, she could immediately tell you all the details about the artist’s life and creative process. Her passion for art and the artists who create it is inspiring.”

The Christine Mack art collection “Beyond the Present: Collecting for the Future” exhibit will be on view at the Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton, from July 26 to September 27, with an opening reception on July 26 from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information, visit southamptonartscenter.org.