hugo mccloud

Hugo McCloud (b. 1980, Palo Alto) is one of the most prolific artists working today. In a career that has now spanned more than fifteen years, McCloud’s work has quickly evolved through a process of restless experimentation, bringing inventiveness and fearlessness to the act of making.  Drawing inspiration from the rawness of the urban landscape, McCloud creates rich, large-scale abstract paintings by fusing unconventional industrial materials with traditional pigment and woodblock printing techniques. McCloud’s recent figurative work touches on notions of class, particularly through his use of plastic bags. His investigation into plastic began while traveling in India, where he saw multi-color polypropylene plastic sacks everywhere. Observing the downcycle of these bags from their creation, to the companies that purchased them for the distribution of products, to the trash pickers in Dharavi slums, McCloud saw how this ubiquitous material passed through the hands of individuals at every level of society.