iMuseum of Contemporary Art ChicagoNear North Side / Streeterville
Chicago Works | Mike Cloud: Worldless Obstruction
A new series by the Chicago-based painter, juxtaposing emotions and introducing a flexible structure to his foldable paintings.
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One painting here carries a New York Times link. Mike Cloud searched "arrow", took the top story, about 60,000-year-old poisoned arrows, and built a painting around it that is covered in pastel hands, clouds, snowflakes and clovers. The gap between the headline and the picture is the point.
Seven new paintings fill the L-shaped Turner Gallery on the fourth floor. Canvases are stapled to bare stretcher bars shaped like an arrow, a fish, a hexagram, a teepee and an X, then hinged so they fold. You see one hexagram hanging flat as a star, and its twin crouched on the floor, propped with pegs and rope.
Newcity, a sponsor of the show, called it "a purposefully cluttered point of entry" and concluded that Cloud "has delivered" on ambiguity. The catch comes from the curator: these works "refuse to cohere into easy, stable readings". It's included in admission ($22, $19 for Chicago residents, free under 18), and Tuesdays run to 9pm, free for Illinois residents from 5pm.
Look for
Poison Arrows South Africa (2026)
A hinged painting in pastel yellows, blues and pinks, crowded with emojis, hands and clovers, carrying the URL of a Times story on 60,000-year-old poisoned arrows.
The two hexagrams
Look for the same shape twice: one hangs on the wall and reads as a star, the other is folded on the floor into hard-edged planes.
Linda Yaccarino X
An X-shaped painting whose wall label traces it to Cloud's search for "X", which turned up a story on the platform's former chief executive.
The hand turkeys
Painted hands with twig-like fingers and bird heads, which the curator likens to the hand turkeys kids trace at Thanksgiving, some skin-toned and some neon green.
The exposed supports
Paint-splotched wooden stretcher bars, staples, pegs and rope are left in full view, holding the floor pieces upright.
Good for
- An Hour Or Less
- Evening Visits
- Locals Who've Seen It All
- Nerding Out
Skip if
You want paintings that explain themselves: the curator says these refuse easy, stable readings.
With kids
Under-18s get in free. Family Day: Knock on Wood runs on 14 November, 11am to 3pm.
Free in the same building
Plan a visit to Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoAlso at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
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Image credits
7
- Chicago Works | Mike Cloud: Worldless ObstructionCourtesy of Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
- A Tale of Today Presents Brendan Fernandes: In the RoundCourtesy of Richard H. Driehaus Museum
- Celebrating Chicago Artists: Selections from the M. Christine Schwartz GiftCourtesy of Richard H. Driehaus Museum
- Emma Stebbins: Carving Out HistoryCourtesy of Richard H. Driehaus Museum
- Museum of Contemporary Art ChicagoCéline from Paris, France, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Richard H. Driehaus MuseumLmh9y6 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Chicago Architecture CenterAlanscottwalker / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0