Walking into Vielmetter Los Angeles’ sunlit loft, it’s easy at first glance to overlook the series of flower paintings inside as traditional floral still lifes. But the stark white backgrounds, untraditional choice of medium, and emotive compositions belie Hugo McCloud’s skillful mastery of manipulating abject materials into visually stunning forms.

Self-taught with a background in industrial design, it’s obvious that McCloud is a restless experimenter. In “translated memories,” McCloud continues his practice of incorporating plastic merchandise bags to investigate connections between industrialization and the natural world. Delicate slivers of colored plastic making up pots, leaves, and petals are cut with a razor and applied with heat piece by piece — at the end of the painstaking process, the plastic looks as liquid as a brushstroke.

As I inspected the surfaces of the works, I found it nearly impossible to discern where the swaths of plastic ended and the paint began. To me, the ease with which the plastic blends into the oil and wood panels echoes the lack of separation between the natural world and manmade pollutants. The temporality of the flowers contrasts beautifully with the tenacity of the non-biodegradable plastic to create tension and meaning beyond their physical forms. In turn, the works double as collaged records of urban decay and economic displacement in the communities from which the materials were collected.

The most compelling aspect of the exhibition aside from the exquisite use of plastic is the multifaceted biographical interpretations of McCloud’s upbringing and his time in quarantine. Inspired by elements of his father’s sculptures and his uncle’s floral still lifes, McCloud mimics artistic lineages on both sides of his family and marries disparate practices to pay homage to his culturally mixed identity. By titling the works after the dates they were created, the artist also creates a visual diary of his quest for calm and beauty over the last year of his life.

Further, McCloud capitalizes on universal memories of seeking stillness and reprieve from the chaos of the pandemic years. The flowers, their fleeting beauty suspended, capture the feeling of the entire world grinding to a halt and provide a meditative viewing experience. Still, the flowers are in flux. Budding stems and unfinished lines suggest the potential for newness and growth. Different views of the same bouquets over time signal the ever-forward passing of seasons and a sense of long-term hope. We too, McCloud reminds us, will change with the times.

Vielmetter Los Angeles
1700 S Santa Fe Ave, #101
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Thru Jan. 8th, 2022