TheCloud | clivejacobson

The Cloud Series

AmericanGothic 2025

Oil on Canvas
36" x 36"
2025

Placed behind two faceless figures, the Cloud suggests that who they are exists somewhere else —offloaded, abstracted, owned by a system rather than embodied in them.

It’s digital memory replacing personal memory. A power that’s invisible but ever-present with a false halo of modern importance. A backdrop of control that makes individuality blur and disappear.

American Gothic 2026

Oil on Canvas
36" x 36"
2026

Digital or modern abstraction with oil paint. The emotional fog or ambiguity.

Placed behind two faceless figures, the iCloud suggests that who they are exists somewhere else—offloaded, abstracted, owned by a system rather than embodied in them.

A Shared consciousness or tension. Because the cloud envelops both figures, it can suggest a common situation, relationship, or unspoken issue that connects them, even though they seem emotionally disconnected.

The clouds resemblance to thought bubbles contrasts with the lack of expression in the man’s silhouette and the woman’s inward focus on her phone—implying thoughts that are present but uncommunicated.

Paired with the smartphone, the cloud can subtly echo ideas of “the cloud” as data, information, or invisible networks shaping modern life and functions like a psychological backdrop, externalizing something internal—thoughts, distance, or shared but unresolved meaning between people, reinforcing a mood of uncertainty, detachment, or emotional distance.

AmericanGothic 2025

American Gothic 2026