Year: 2011
Medium: Ceramic birds and figures, metal flowers, gramophone, wig, beads, metal armature, appliquéd, knitted and crocheted fabric on man
Size: 112 1/2 x 58 x 47 1/2 in.
Accession Number: 2012.03
Purchased with funds provided by the Acquisition Trust
Soundsuit
Nick Cave
Part of the Acquisition Trust Exhibit
Year: 2011
Medium: Ceramic birds and figures, metal flowers, gramophone, wig, beads, metal armature, appliquéd, knitted and crocheted fabric on man
Size: 112 1/2 x 58 x 47 1/2 in.
Accession Number: 2012.03
Purchased with funds provided by the Acquisition Trust
Functioning as both costume and sculpture, Nick Cave’s Soundsuits transform the human body in fantastic ways that are intended to provoke our imaginations. These mixed-media sculptures, made from recycled materials and human hair, are named for the sounds make when they are worn. Commenting on the theory of his work, Cave explains that “…we’re in a time right now where we don’t dream anymore. I’d like to get us back to that place where we’re in a dream state, where we’re thinking about imaginary ways of existing and experiencing and fantasizing what we may want to do with our lives.”
About Nick Cave
Nick Cave was born in Fulton, Missouri, in 1959. He received a BFA from the Art Institute of Kansas City and an MFA in fiber arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art, outside of Detroit. Cave’s work has been featured in monographic exhibitions around the globe, at venues such as the Cranbrook Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and is housed in the permanent collections of many major institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Museum of Modern Art. Cave has received several prestigious awards, among them the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award, the Artadia Award, the Joyce Award, and multiple Creative Capital Grants. He has lived and worked in Chicago since 1990 and is the Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body, and Garment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.