Hugo McCloud

The Beauty Of Bushwick

Finding the balance between what is raw, overlooked, and desired, artist Hugo McCloud uses everyday materials and transforms them into objects of attraction

“I use beauty and attractiveness, materials and process, to grab a person’s attention, but at the same time there is real substance to each process,” says the artist Hugo McCloud in his airy and orderly Bushwick studio. The artist works simultaneously on multiple pieces, and today his large-scale abstract paintings line the studio walls while works-in-progress are arranged on the floor and tables. Several different series, and the tools to create them, are on display, a testament to how quickly McCloud is reacting to his own work, and moving his practice forward. There are boxes of hand carved wooden stamps, hanging polyethylene bags from various countries, and paintings that have been hammered, stamped, flamed and, in certain cases, covered with aluminum foil.

The artist comes from an industrial design background, so it is perhaps not surprising that process is central to his work. Describing the importance of using everyday materials and transforming them into objects of beauty, he explains: “Why would you put tar paper, or aluminum foil, on your walls? I’m using materials that you wouldn’t usually see manipulated to be attractive. And that is what my work is really about, finding the balance between what is raw, undesired and desired – a place where most people are uncomfortable – and then mixing materials and making it a very comfortable place to be.”

McCloud’s early fine art explorations began with copper and brass, using oxidation and rust to patina his pieces, a process he was familiar with through designing and constructing objects in his fabrication workshop. He has since adopted roofing paper as a canvas, applying adhesive, liquid tar and paint, so that the surface is thickly textured. McCloud describes “building” his paintings, rather than “painting” them, and he admits that he has only recently started using brushes, having previously been more comfortable applying paint with industrial tools.

The articulate, compelling artist and his artwork have received a great deal of attention over the past few years, and his well-publicized show at Sean Kelly Gallery in late 2016 was fully sold out. It was his second solo exhibition at the gallery, and was titled Veiled in reference to a group of new paintings that he covered with layers of aluminum foil. The foil obscures the underlying paint, so the viewer can only see the densely painted texture beneath the shiny, reflective material. McCloud’s rapid success in the art world is unusual, especially because he did not come through traditional art school channels, but his gallerist partially attributes this to his success. “He didn’t learn the theory, the conceptual underpinning, and I would say this allows him to intuitively pursue his medium through the material in ways that other artists might not.” Kelly continues, “I think the fact that he didn’t have boundaries and precepts set for him has enabled him to be very intuitive and very reactive. He’s reacting to the work itself and moving at a phenomenal rate.”

McCloud is very conscious of his desire to continue innovating. “When I did [the veiled pieces], I already had an idea of the next place I wanted to be.” Says McCloud. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to stay in one place. When I create a piece, I am continually searching for something more. I am continually looking for that new place.”

This in the moment feeling, and McCloud’s hands on approach, is enforced by his extensive international travel to countries including the Philippines, Mexico, Morocco and India. Observing, and more importantly, participating in local art practices and culture, the artist emphasizes that he is “learning through doing.” Helping to define his artistic practice as he explores different materials and processes, including wood block stamping, weaving and carving, these travels function as mini-residencies. Last fall, he spent almost three months at the Bellas Artes Projects in the Philippines, working alongside local artists to learn wood carving and resin techniques. He then employed these hand carved stamps in his paintings. While some designs are inspired by his travel experiences, he has also copied discarded furniture patterns found on the streets surrounding his studio, carving the designs into stamps he then imprints on paintings. McCloud’s focus on process is evident throughout his practice, but it also seeps through to how he lives his life, placing an emphasis on his personal experience and exploration.

McCloud’s recent gallery exhibition also featured new works made from strips of reclaimed polyethylene bags found while scouring local trash heaps in the different countries he has visited. McCloud points out that wherever he has traveled, these bags have the same trajectory, being used to store and transport material – often stamped and branded with a company name – then eventually discarded and recycled by waste pickers. Recovering these bags during his travels and returning them to his studio, he envisions a future show comprised of works made from the bags taken from various countries. Exhibiting them side by side would emphasize the broad commonality of the product and its use, but also highlight their subtle differences.

Understanding how things are made and built, and how similar processes can be accomplished in various ways, is important to McCloud. He comes from a family of “makers” his mother was a landscape designer and his father a sculptor, and he has internalized this legacy. “It is always interesting to see the same things being done, and how they are just done differently.” He says. “The way a building is built in India or South Africa is totally different, but the building is still a building. So it’s the idea of understanding how the same thing you do in your environment is done somewhere else though a different process.” This interest in commonality of material and experience, through different methods and cultures, seems to inform much of his approach. His desire to unite disparate materials and cultural practices in order to create successful art work is at the center of many of his processes.

The afternoon I visited his studio, McCloud was finishing a painting, and adding a new step to his veiled painting technique. Working from an image created in Photoshop, he was painstakingly cutting out strips from the sheets of aluminum foil applied to the painting’s surface. Removing the foil strips, the underlying paint is visible, revealing broad strokes of color. As with all his series, the handmade element of the work is plainly evident, both the veiling with aluminum foil, and then the cut-out strips. This new step progresses in a manner that is logical, both visually and conceptually. Once he has finished removing the strips, McCloud and his assistant hang the fresh painting for us to view on the studio wall, and it is striking how the strokes of the removed foil read as brushstrokes themselves – almost as if the artist who has only recently begun using paintbrushes – is becoming unveiled.