Nick Cave: Forothermore

Last week in Chicago I saw that Nick Cave was giving a talk at the Museum of Contemporary Art. I thought of the singer-songwriter but no, this is the visual artist, Chicago-based Nick Cave (b1959) whose exhibition Forothermore is one of the most exciting I have seen. On entry, a video of an interview with the artist showed samples of very elaborate, often highly ornamented work – the term ‘baroque’ seems appropriate (as opposed to ‘classical’). In reality, the work is so much more substantial than can be revealed in two dimensions. Cave is best known for his sculptural Soundsuits of which there were some brilliant examples: mannequins or performers with costumes made of faux-fur, mixed textiles – sometimes embroidery, hand-made carpet, crochet, various found materials – often with vibrant, mixed colours; some act as percussion instruments when incorporated with performance.

The overall is an immersive experience yielding layers of meaning, especially what it is to be ‘other’. Several pieces allude to the portrayal and treatment historically of black people. Individual, mixed-media sculptures say at a glance what would take very carefully chosen and numerous words to communicate in such a visceral manner. While studying art, Cave also trained as a dancer. The more light-hearted aspect of his personality features when a flat screen seen through a purpose-built tunnel shows Cave dancing, wearing a shaggy, pink ‘soundsuit’. The light of a single spot produces shadows from where the figure gradually emerges, and to where various limbs disappear and reappear. 

Cave’s work echoed two days later when I visited the Chicago Art Institute and amid the images of many white, European faces (mostly male) saw the only portrait of a black man: John Simpson’s The Captive Slave (1827). The whole experience makes me reassess what we value and why, but what remains most is a very strong admiration for the work of this remarkable artist.

https://visit.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/nick-cave-forothermore/

https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/nick-cave-forothermore