NICK CAVE AT THE NORTON

What better way to dip our feet into the cultural waters of Florida than a visit to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach! The Norton is a local treasure with world-class exhibits. Their curatorial eye is unfailing. Last year they brought us the photographs of Richard Avedon’s final years…. Big splashy yet intimate. The year before it was Iris Apfel’s amazing fashion collection, infinitely better presented than in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts’ original stuffy version…. (Manikins passively enclosed within glass cases)…. the Norton had them in the open in a dare-to-touch me exhibit replicating a fashion runway.

This year it’s Nick Cave’s turn; five galleries devoted to this amazing multi-media artist. (Our ignorance of the hip art-scene made our discovery all the more dazzling.)…. The show originated in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)* and will travel for the next five years, hopefully, to a Museum near you.

"Soundsuits" up to 10' tall are used by dancers, including Nick Cave, in videoed performance images

Mr. Cave’s work is literally larger than life. He shies from nothing. His fertile mind latches on to the simplest of materials from discarded sweaters, as in his bigger-than-life polar bear dressed in remnants of discarded Icelandic sweaters, to costumes, he calls “Soundsuits” worn by performance artists, that are embellished with thousands of collected buttons, robes fashioned of crochet, lace, sequin, hooked rugs, knitting (and to Erica’s delight), tons of embroidery ranging from Crewel Work, to Needlepoint, to Indian Shisha work (embedding mica mirrors into embroidered textiles), to Appliqué. (It is virtually an encyclopedic embracing of all the needle arts.) He must have a warehouse full of found objects from children’s toys, ceramic objects from tourist gift shops to handbags, hats and clothing which he transforms into a kaleidoscope of colors and textures to overwhelm us.

Found materials are the inspiration and color palette of Mr. Caves work... Here is uses crochet hats as the costume for one of his Sounsuits

Thousand of buttons adorn his costumes and wall hangings

Erica was thrilled to find her Crewel Embroidered Owl from 1970 used in an embroidered costume

A flower Sound costume using ceramic and porcelain flowers mounted on a wrought iron dirigible framework...note the attention to detail right down to the legging....

....and embroidered socks

Nick Cave working in his San Francisco studio.... a treasure trove of found and recycled objects

Nick Cave’s work is deeply routed in his Afro-American background, recalling shamans, voodoo, ritual dances, and the burden of slavery. In his own words, “The arts are our salvation – the only thing that allows us to heal and also helps us dream about what will make the world a better place….”

Voodoo inspired strands of fur-like material dyed in rainbow colors

Hood detail with embroidered beads and appliqued fabrics

His work engages us at a completely sensual and tactile level. The Video performances of his Soundsuits are mesmerizing. The Huge 20’ diameter discs called Tontos dominate one gallery. In another wing, giant figures dressed in colorfully dyed strands of hair loom over you like a witchdoctor about to perform his rites.

The spider's web detail of a 20' diameter Tonto

A giant Tonto...one of two hanging in their own gallery at the Norton

This exhibit is not to be missed and worthy of repeat visits to absorb and rejoice in Nick Cave’s vision.

*Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is San Francisco’s premier contemporary art center presenting films, performance and visual art by local, national, and international artists. (In its broader than community service, it is amusing to note that Gary Jobs used it for the launch of Apple’s i.Pad.)

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Thank you, thank you , THANK YOU!! Absolutely stunning.

Posted by: Susanne Redfield | 12/02/2010 at 12:54 AM

Thanks for being such an 'eye on the world'
Don Behrstock, Horizon Showroom Los Angeles ret.

Posted by: Don Behrstock | 12/02/2010 at 04:01 PM

Stumbled upon your post about the Norton's Nick Cave exhibit by accident and am thrilled to see someone as excited about it as I was! I've been back twice now, and even bought the book so I can revisit whenever I want. Also loved the Iris Apfel exhibit a few years ago and have become fan (OK, a stalker!) enough to also visit it in Boston. Thanks- can't wait to see where 'we' go next!

Posted by: Sandy Donabed | 12/03/2010 at 06:41 AM