ARTISTS
Mike Cloud: Bad Faith and Universal Technique
Thomas Erben is very excited to present the gallery鈥檚 first solo exhibition with painter Mike Cloud (b. 1974, Chicago, IL). In a new group of works ranging widely in size, vivid formal aspects combine with an urgent, visceral exploration of history, bringing into conversation the perspective of history鈥檚 survivors, along with its losers and winners.
Mike Cloud鈥檚 paintings break out of the format of the medium and take on irregular shapes and sculptural qualities; they invite the viewer into their own creation by sharing the experience of the physical forces involved. Canvas fastened to the front of stretcher bars and then primed creates a tension that makes wood bend under the pull of staples and rabbit-skin glue. Brushes wiped off along the edges of exposed stretchers highlight the connection between raw materials and image. Asymmetrical or multi-cornered stretchers, coarsely conjoined with gaps at the corners, emphasize the 鈥榦bjectness鈥� of each painting. The creation process is extended into a state where the work remains alive with innate forces.
Working within his long-developed visual vocabulary, Cloud reexamines historical phenomena and appropriates emotionally loaded symbols. The artist picks apart his subject matter and puts it back together in new configurations 鈥� often using painted words as load-bearing elements 鈥� collaging his chosen components into an intuitive imprint; an extended process compressed into a single object. Each work becomes a vessel for a certain set of symbols, channeling one particular strain of history.
Recommended for you
Thomas Erben is very excited to present the gallery鈥檚 first solo exhibition with painter Mike Cloud (b. 1974, Chicago, IL). In a new group of works ranging widely in size, vivid formal aspects combine with an urgent, visceral exploration of history, bringing into conversation the perspective of history鈥檚 survivors, along with its losers and winners.
Mike Cloud鈥檚 paintings break out of the format of the medium and take on irregular shapes and sculptural qualities; they invite the viewer into their own creation by sharing the experience of the physical forces involved. Canvas fastened to the front of stretcher bars and then primed creates a tension that makes wood bend under the pull of staples and rabbit-skin glue. Brushes wiped off along the edges of exposed stretchers highlight the connection between raw materials and image. Asymmetrical or multi-cornered stretchers, coarsely conjoined with gaps at the corners, emphasize the 鈥榦bjectness鈥� of each painting. The creation process is extended into a state where the work remains alive with innate forces.
Working within his long-developed visual vocabulary, Cloud reexamines historical phenomena and appropriates emotionally loaded symbols. The artist picks apart his subject matter and puts it back together in new configurations 鈥� often using painted words as load-bearing elements 鈥� collaging his chosen components into an intuitive imprint; an extended process compressed into a single object. Each work becomes a vessel for a certain set of symbols, channeling one particular strain of history.
Artists on show
Contact details
