CHICAGO — Until he went to art school, Nick Cave considered himself an artist first and a black artist second. Then he showed up at Cranbrook Academy of Art outside Detroit in 1986 to get his MFA and discovered he was the only minority student on campus. In an instant, his perspective fundamentally changed. “I literally was in a state of shock,” he says. “It was the first time I ever had to deal with my race and to think of myself as a black male.” As a celebrated alumni, he is returning to Cranbrook this summer and fall to rectify the isolation he felt nearly 30 years ago with hopes to inspire and influence young black artists throughout Detroit. There will be an exhibition of his work — colorful masked and wearable sculptures he calls “soundsuits” — which is serving as the first phase of a six-month series throughout the city that ...
Tagged: Nick Cave, Washington Post
Read MoreNick Cave is a prolific artist and dancer, famous for his sculptures called soundsuits, which he often stages in public spectacle. The artist conceives some as fragile sculptural totems, and others as wearable performance suits designed for sound, mobility, and dance. Though influenced by a vibrant palette of African art, armor, found objects, fashion, and textile design, the origin of the soundsuit is rooted in social critique. Cave first created a suit in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating in 1991, envisioning an emotional shield that protected one’s race or gender while still expressing individuality. As Cave’s artwork began to resonate with vast audiences, the artist saw the soundsuits as powerful agents to capture the public imagination on a monumental scale. Cave’s artistic practice now advocates the vital importance of collective dreaming, which he actualizes through large-scale performances. Here Hear includes a collection of approximately thirty sculptural soundsuits in the ...
Tagged: Mutalart.com, Nick Cave
Read More“As an art student,” says artist Nick Cave, “Detroit played a major role in my creative development.” He attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art on the outskirts of that city — graduating in 1989. While there, he took full advantage of the city’s incredible cultural heritage — from Berry Gordy’s Motown sound as well to burgeoning underground house music scene left a lasting impression. Now Cave, who is best known for his elaborately decorated, vibrantly colored “Soundsuits” and public happenings that incorporate rhythmic music and dancing, is returning to Detroit to stage"Here Hear," a seven-month-long series of performances, exhibitions, and “invasions.” For Cave, "Here Hear" aims to “jump-start” a creative renaissance happening throughout the city. What is happening in Detroit is complicated, intertwined with the fear that new people will bring gentrification, alienating and pricing out longtime residents. By bringing art to underserved communities through a mixture of spontaneous performances — what ...
Tagged: Nick Cave, Vulture/New York Magazine SEEN
Read MorePhoto by James Prinz Photography. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New YorkSeven-month project includes Museum exhibition and Cave’s “Biggest, Baddest Performance Series!” Bloomfield Hills, Mich., March 30, 2015 - This spring, summer, and fall, Cranbrook Art Museum and Detroit will serve as the backdrop for Nick Cave’s most ambitious project to date – Nick Cave: Here Hear. At the invitation of Cranbrook Art Museum, Cave will stage seven months of events throughout the city of Detroit anchored by his first solo exhibition in Michigan at Cranbrook Art Museum, opening this summer. Nick Cave is an artist and dancer, famous for his sculptures, called Soundsuits, which he often stages in public spectacle. The events will kick off in April, when Nick begins “invading” the city of Detroit for a series of site-specific photo shoots. His first stop will be on the Peristyle at Cranbrook Art Museum at noon on April ...
Tagged: Detroit, MI, MI, Nick Cave, Sculpture
Read MoreGet ready Detroit, Nick Cave is coming for you—Soundsuits in tow. For the next seven months, the Cranbrook Art Museum and the greater city of Detroit will play host to the artist’s most ambitious project to date. Mr. Cave, a 1989 graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, will return to the city this spring to launch a museum exhibition of massive scope, titled “Nick Cave: Here Hear,” which will also include a series of free city-wide public performances and staged events beginning in April and running through October. Mr. Cave’s pseudo-residency is fueled by the personal philosophy he describes as “collective dreaming,” an impetus for drawing on community-driven and locally produced site specific projects. “My goal is to work with these groups and those who live in and love the city to reimagine Detroit as an always-surprising environment of creativity, excitement, and engagement. My dreams for the city are big, because I believe it ...
Tagged: Nick Cave
Read MoreBLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich., January 21, 2015 – As part of a new series showcasing emerging contemporary artists, Cranbrook Art Museum welcomes Cranbrook Academy of Art graduate Zack Ostrowski for his new exhibition MR. MDWST – A REAL GOOD TIME by BEVERLY FRE$H. The exhibition will open with an exclusive ArtMembers’ reception and performance on February 6, 2015, from 6-8pm. Memberships can be purchased at the door the evening of the event. The exhibition opens to the public on February 7 and runs through March 22, 2015. MR. MDWST (a truncation of Mister Midwest) is a continuation of the adventures of Beverly Fre$h—a stylized autobiographical character that doubles as an artist persona and stage name for Zack Ostrowski. Like a postmodern tale of the picaresque, Ostrowski has traveled extensively over the last two years as Beverly Fre$h on a quest to understand, reconfigure, and interrupt the social and cultural rituals of the rural Midwest. He ...
Tagged: Beverly Fre$h, Harry Bertoia, MR. MDWST, Nick Cave, Performance
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