Nick Cave, American born 1959
from FOROTHERMORE at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2023
Forothermore is a word which the artist made up to describe his activism and his art: to create a place where nobody feels threatened for his or her way of being.
His focus is to create safe space for the peoples who are regularly ‘othered’: the queer, the racial minorities; the working class.
Nick Cave was born in Fulton, Missouri. He lives and works today in Chicago.
Time and Again was made shortly after the death of his grandfather.
It is an altar to his grandfather’s values: values upon which he also has acted in his art and in his social activism.
These values are encoded in the Christian faith which has sustained so many of the Black American community through hundreds of years of slavery and discrimination:
respect for others; care of the soil; thrift, care and reuse of the tools of work and life; tenacity; faith; hope.
Time and Again, 2000, found metal and wooden objects.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Artist loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Nick Cave is most famous for his ‘soundsuits’ shown at the end of this blog. The context of this creation was the near-murder of Rodney King by the Los Angeles Police in March 1991.
Soundsuits in this exhibition
In the last 3o years, always using found objects and sometimes binding his work with his own needlecraft, the artist has expanded his creativity and his activism.
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Forbidden and Desire, 1998, wood and found metal, glass and wooden and plastic objects.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Private collection loan to the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Hare and Mallet, 1999, found metal and wooden objects.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Private collection loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
The Day After Yesterday, 2005, found textiles with human hair and plastic beads.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Private collection loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
I Wouldn’t Bet Against It, 2007, found textiles and found plastic objects.
Nick Cave, American born 1955. Artist loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Penny Catcher, 2009, found textiles and found wooden and metal objects.
Nick Cave, American born 1955. Private collection loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Wall Relief, 2013, mixed media.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. On exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim, NY in 2022
Untitled, 2014, bronze and found textiles
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loaned by the artist to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Sea Sick, 2014, found oil on canvas and found ceramic, fiberglass and plastic objects
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Private collection on loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
The anchor of this painting is a spittoon shaped as a bust of an elderly Black man; one of many such racist items that the artist has collected and incorporated in his work.
Sacrifice, 2014, bronze and found wooden object.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Private collection on loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Shine, 2014, bronze and found metal and wooden objects
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Artist loan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
TM13, manaquin, found clothing and found plastic and metal objects, with beads, 2015
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loaned by Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022.
The artist has encased a representation of Trayvon Martin with toys and emblems of innocence. Martin was shot when he was 17 by a vigilante in Florida when he was walking back to the home in which he was staying.
Florida permits the use of firearms when an individual feels threatened (‘Stand Your Ground’ law).
The killer of Trayvon Martin was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter.
Platform, 2018, bronze, fiberglass and found wooden objects.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loaned by the Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
TBD
Arm Peace, 2019, bronze and found metal objects
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loaned by the artist to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
This is a cast of the artist’s arm in a gesture of peace in a country in which there are many negative symbols attached to the bodies of Black people.
Bear and Boy, 2021, steel and found wooden, concrete and metal objects and beads
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loan by the artist to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Museum guidance is that the language and metaphor of this piece is taken from queer adult usage and denotes an introduction to mature carnal knowledge.
Hustle Coat, 2021, bronze, found textiles and found metal objects
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loaned by the artist and his gallery to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
An evocation of the coat worn by street hustlers whose jacket concealed the jewellery, often obtained illegally, they were trying to sell. Also a reminder of the hustle of the lives of the undereducated just to stay alive.
Rescue 2013. Loaned by a private collection
Rescue 2021. Loaned by the artist
Steel and found ceramic, metal, wooden and fabric objects, with beads.
On exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
An extension into animal life of the respect the artist holds for life, especially of those on the margins of society.
Unarmed, cast bronze metal and vintage beaded flowers, 2022
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loaned by Mass MOCA to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022
Sound Suits
Display at the Solomon R. Guggenheim at the exhibition
The artist created his first soundsuit after the Los Angeles Police Department beat Rodney King (1965-2012, American) to within an inch of his life after a high-speed chase. March 1991.
Soundsuit, 2010, dogwood twigs, wire, upholstery, basket and mannequin
Soundsuit in the exhibition
Soundsuit in this exhibition
53 people died in Los Angeles in the riots which followed the acquittal of the policemen.
Soundsuits on exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Muuseum in this exhibition
The artist proposes these suits to mask identity so that no action can be taken on the basis of the superficials of the colour of skin.
Made of fabric and found objects, they are so named for the rustling sound made by the first one.
Soundsuits in the exhibition
Soundsuits in the exhibition
Soundsuit, 2011, found objects, knit head and bodysuit, and mannaquin
29 years after Rodney King’s beating, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police on a city street.
The artist continues to create soundsuits.
Soundsuit, mixed media, 2009
Smithsonian Musuem of American Art, Washington, DC.
Soundsuit, synthetic hair, fiberglass, metal, 2008.
On exhibit in 2019 at the Barnes Collection, Philadelphia in the 10th year of an exhibition: 30 Americans
Soundsuit #20, 2005, found sequins and handbeading on fabric.
Private collection on loan to the Whitney, NY in 2019/2020.
Soundsuit, 2013, mixed media including mannequin, fabric, ceramic birds, metal flowers and antique grammaphone.
Tondo, wood, metal, glass, beads, textile, wire.
Nick Cave, American born 1959. Loaned by Chicago Institute of Art to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY in 2022.