Moon illustration was chosen over High Times' characteristic marijuana photography, a nude photograph of Allen Ginsberg and other designs. Mace was also among artists supporting the listener-sponsored, free-form radio station WFMU by providing artwork for the station's promotion, publications and fund-raising drives. During the same period, Mace became a prominent contributor to New York Press, a free alternative weekly, during the newspaper's peak years. He continued his involvement at New York Press even while he'd already based himself in Japan in the mid-1990s. Later work for the publication often covered Asian topics, or displayed Asian influence. Artwork and graphics of a sexual nature contributed to Screw magazine in New York City and Hustler magazine nationally in the early 1990s gave Mace a reputation as an erotic artist which was furthered via inclusion in erotic art anthologies such as Ars Erotica: The Best Modern Erotic Art. Years of work as an illustrator continued into other commercial outlets, including cartoon work. A fan of comic books in his youth, he'd even created his own. Later, cartooning courses were among those Mace chose in lieu of a major while attending School of Visual Arts in the mid-1980s. His artwork was among those published in comic books showcasing the students of courses taught by Harvey Kurtzman (Mad; Playboy's Little Annie Fanny) and Will Eisner (The Spirit), respectively. In the mid-1990s Mace was among regular contributors to Paradox Press’ award-winning Big Book series. He supplied artwork for many of the Big Books, but earned special recognition for his input to the Conspiracies book as well as the Urban Legends book. Mad magazine also employed Mace as a cartoonist. Mace had participated in group exhibitions in the 1980s, but his first solo exhibition came at the start of the 1990s. His earliest exhibitions were held annually at the I AM THE BEST ARTIST gallery of René Moncada in New York's SoHo neighborhood, at the time the city's predominant art district. In those early exhibitions many originals of his published illustrations were displayed alongside new artworks of his own. Exhibitions were publicized by publications in which the illustrations appeared, adding to the attraction of fans who’d appreciated the artwork in print. As his own original artwork flourished, illustrations were exhibited less. From the start, Mace chose clever exhibition titles such as Penmanship (1991) and INKorporated (1993); conspicuous wordplay relating to his preferred medium of ballpoint pen. Exhibition