Nick Cave

On March 3rd our co-op class got the opportunity to visit the Cincinnati Art Museum to see the Nick Cage exhibit. Nick Cage is a textile artist. Textile art is art that uses plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Nick Cage is currently in his early 50s and went to school at the Kansas City Art Institute. In the summers he studied with a dance theater in New York. His mix of art and dance inspired him to create his "sound suits". These are suits that are made of different textiles and materials, usually very tall, where one cannot see the head of the wearer. His tallest pieces are up to 11 ft tall. One piece has a huge circular dome looking piece of wire running along the inside that rests on the shoulders of the mannequin. There were also two large "tondo's" in the exhibit, which are round textile patterns mounted on the wall. They were very intricate and handmade. Cave requested not to have any labels on his works explaining what they are because he wants the viewer to experience it on their own and come up with their own interpretations. He uses materials such as buttons, doily's, sequins, beads and more. All his pieces are very colorful and busy. He obtains most of his materials from secondhand stores and flee markets. He takes what we already have and what we don't want anymore and makes it new again into something beautiful. His designs are pulled from all different cultures to bring them together in a metaphorical sense in order to support his idea of community building.I thought this was a really cool exhibit and I would definitely recommend checking it out!

In the museum

One of the Tondo's

A sound suit

A close up of the second tondo