by Patricia Frischer
I encourage you to Watch the video of this conversation between the artist Nick Cave and the interviewer Deidre Guevara
Nick Cave is a charming speaker, authentic and one of my
personal heroes. He is one of 7 boys born a year apart from each and very early
on, he was no trouble because he was always drawing and occupying himself. His
parents were very supportive. He went to the Kansas City Art Institute which
was liberating. But at one point his mother was concerned about his pink hair. He
grew out of that phase and has certainly made his family proud.
During his time at school, he learned he was able to gather
people and collaborate. But after school he needed to focus. First working at
Macy’s as a visual coordinator doing window displays, then on to Hallmark which was not a good
match. So, he went to Cranbrook and was near Detroit. He was committed and
pushed and was immediately hired at the teaching school of the Chicago Art
Institute in 1991.
The Rodney King beating happened in 1992. Harm to black
bodies was not unusual, but this was the first incident that was seen on video…so
vulgar and so violent. It was devastating and brought to his attention the need
to communicate to the white world of his colleagues. The riots in LA were galvanizing
and a real awakening for him. He needed to speak louder and the Sound Suits
were born out of that need. He gathered twigs thinking they would be a
sculpture, but then as he assembled them, he realized he could wear the sculpture
and when he put it on it made sound. He
was not ready to reveal this work publicly and put a dozen of them into a
closet for about a decade. He needed time to understand what he was making and
why .
In these works, the wearer is covered and protected, but
the shape determined what the suits became. A friend showed his work to the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. After he checked them out, he agreed to a meeting
in Chicago. When ask what he wanted, he had to be honest with himself and he
replied, “I want to be famous.” The gallery came to Chicago and sold out his
show, but this was shocking to him. It took him awhile to ask for help, because
they wanted more art. When they launched, his life changed. Success was sudden
and dizzying. To take these Sound Suits out of the closet and lose the protection that his work provided, took
courage.
Discarded materials, excess, re-use, re-purpose all floated
in his mind. He was really continuing his material studies. Cave was a weaver and constructing a cloth and moving it from
2-D to 3-D was comfortable for him. The
concept of beauty from the thrown away, for him, is almost a rebellion. But a
rebellion that is optimistic, hopeful and filled with forgiveness.
Most of the work is used color and pattern His influences are self-declared Baroque as
well as haute culture and decadence. Gaudy, excessive turned into fabulous are
his words to describe the style of the work.
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| Nick Cave, Rescue, 2013. Mixed media including ceramic French bulldog, ceramic birds, metal flowers, and barrel chair. © Nick Cave. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. Museum purchase with funds from the bequest of Dr. Janet Brody Esser, 2022.18 |
Rescue is his piece owned by SDMA. This series was the first time he starting
building out the idea while shopping for supplies. The Doberman was the first one
he found and he knew if should be sitting on a settee. Dogs have loyalty. Pure
bred dogs denote status in society. He felts he needed to create a den for the
dogs, a safe space.
He obviously does not need to teach but he is interested in
the next generation and wanting to make sure that those who need him are
involved. He removed his own art from his teaching life which focuses on
getting the students to trust themselves. His community work involves
exhibitions spaces that are curated but are also flexible to the moment. He
calls these call and response spaces. He
wants to empower the community not to wait for an institution to approve, but to
do a project that they believe in immediately.
Nick Cave is interested in how AI is influencing the making
of things and utilizes it as a tool. He makes art without limits or boundaries.
That invites us to dive into the work in the same way.
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| Nick Cave, live at the San Diego Museum of Art |
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