Chicago Works | Mike Cloud: Worldless Obstruction

About the Exhibition

For over two decades, Mike Cloud (b. 1974, Chicago, IL; lives in Chicago) has created symbolically loaded paintings that play with viewers’ intuitions. While his artworks’ shapes and forms have immediate associations—a Star of David, a teepee, an arrow, and more—Cloud decontextualizes these symbols, connecting them to many possible meanings. In doing so, he responds to art historical framings of abstract painting as pure, apolitical, and pristine, emphasizing instead that paintings are objects that circulate in systems of commodities, personal experiences, and language.

In this exhibition, the MCA presents new paintings by Cloud that incorporate recent developments in his practice: emojis, hinges, and the shape of an “X.” Cloud uses these elements to juxtapose emotions and introduce a flexible structure to his foldable paintings, which will be installed in various configurations on the walls and floors of the gallery. Referencing barricades and obstructions, these sculptural paintings resist straightforward interpretation and invite viewers to forge unexpected connections between form and meaning.

Mike Cloud is the 27th artist to participate in Chicago Works, a solo exhibition series at the MCA that features artists who are shaping contemporary art in the city and beyond. The exhibition is presented in the MCA’s Turner Gallery, on the museum’s fourth floor.

Chicago Works | Mike Cloud: Worldless Obstruction is organized by Nolan Jimbo, Assistant Curator.

About the Artist

Mike Cloud was born and raised in Chicago. He earned a BFA from the University of Illinois Chicago (2001) and an MFA from Yale University (2003). Cloud speaks openly about teachers who have influenced his practice, including Kerry James Marshall, Byron Kim, Peter Halley, Jessica Stockholder, and Mel Bochner.

Cloud’s solo exhibitions include Circle Chat, Corbett vs. Dempsey (2025); The Myth of Education, Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago (2018); Systems, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska (2006); and Special Project: Mike Cloud, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2005). Cloud has also participated in group exhibitions at Artists Space, New York; Good Weather, Chicago; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago; White Columns, New York; and The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. Cloud participated in The Long Dream (2020) at the MCA, and his work Cycle and Stable (2015) resides in the MCA’s collection.