Art Cloth Network

 Nick Cave Exhibit by Barbara Schneider

I recently had the opportunity to see the Nick Cave installations at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Nick cave exhibit MCA.

From the website: Chicagoan Nick Cave (American, b. 1959), an artist celebrated for projects that blend community building with vibrant works of art across disciplines, including immersive installations, textural sculptures, impeccably crafted fashion, and dynamic videos and performances. Highlights of the exhibition include never-before-seen works, including a continuation of the artist’s popular Soundsuits series with the premiere of Soundsuits 9:29 and a mesmerizing, site-specific installation, Spinner Forest, comprised of thousands of kinetic spinners that will hang in the museum’s two-story atrium and fourth-floor lobby.

Cave came to prominence as a visual artist almost twenty years ago with his dazzling, sculptural Soundsuits, and works in Chicago as an activist, educator, designer, and performer. Nick Cave: Forothermore gathers all of these aspects of Cave’s work into the artist’s largest museum survey to date. This immersive journey through Cave’s distinct bodies of work is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue designed with Cave’s partner, Bob Faust.

Nick Cave: Forothermore is an ode to those who, whether due to racism, homophobia, or other forms of bigotry, live their lives as the “other”—and a celebration of the way art, music, fashion, and performance can help us envision a more just future.

It was a fascinating look at many aspects of his textile/installation work. More is definitely more in his work. Several of the sound suits were on display and you can find a million interesting details in each one.

The entire surface of this piece is made of silvery buttons.

I was not as familiar with his work with found objects but they are quite lyrical and beautiful and then the more you look the more the underlying message comes through. (Sorry the photo is not as good as it could be)

 

This photo is taken looking out over the lobby where a million twisting, turning metal pieces are all moving at once.  When you look closely you see that the design is of guns. 

There are several video segments about Nick Cave on Art 21. (link here). They give you a sense of the artist and how he creates his work and what influences him. 

The exhibit at the MCA is there until October 20, 2022 just in case you get to Chicago and want to see it.  It was wonderful to get to an exhibit and be inspired anew.