Nick Cave dons mantle of an artist who inspires and elicits introspection | The Washington Post

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 ...

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