Mike Cloud's Suitcase Portraits Opens at Thomas Erben Gallery Alongside Hammer and MCA Chicago Shows
On September 17, 2026, the Thomas Erben Gallery in New York is set to showcase Mike Cloud's Suitcase Portraits, which will be his ninth exhibition with them. At the same time, Cloud will also have solo shows at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, running through January and February 2027, respectively. His new pieces are suitcase-shaped paintings, with store-bought handles, varying in size from 60 x 60 to 24 x 24 inches. These abstract portraits draw inspiration from Nigeria, Bangladesh, and France, described as “speculative portraitures of an anonymous global crime wave.” Cloud, based in Chicago, earned his MFA from Yale in 2003 and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Key facts
- Suitcase Portraits is Mike Cloud's ninth exhibition with Thomas Erben Gallery in New York
- The show opens September 17, 2026
- It coincides with Hammer Projects: Mike Cloud at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and Mike Cloud: Worldless Obstruction at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
- The museum shows run until January and February 2027 respectively
- The paintings are foldable suitcase forms with store-bought handles, sized 60 x 60 to 24 x 24 inches open
- Titles reference Nigeria, Bangladesh and France, described as "speculative portraitures of an anonymous global crime wave"
- Cloud earned his MFA from Yale in 2003 and teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Cloud received the inaugural Chiaro Award from the Headlands Center for the Arts
Entities
Artists
- Mike Cloud
- Bob Nickas
Institutions
- Thomas Erben Gallery
- Hammer Museum
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
- School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Yale University
- University of Illinois at Chicago
- MoMA P.S.1
- Marianne Boesky Gallery
- White Columns
- Max Protetch
- Apexart
- Studio Museum in Harlem
- Honor Fraser Gallery
- Phaidon Press
- Headlands Center for the Arts
- New York Foundation for the Arts
- Meulensteen Art Centre
- Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program
- The Independent
- Art Basel Miami Beach
- Frieze London
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Los Angeles
- Chicago
- Nigeria
- Bangladesh
- France
- Netherlands
- California