Visual art / Fashion
Nick Cave
born 1959 · sculptor, performance artist
American artist famous for his wearable Soundsuits, who earned his MFA in fiber art at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills.
- Born
Fulton, Missouri
age 67- Detroit years
- 1980s–1989
- Field
- Visual art, Fashion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Cave grew up in Missouri, studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and trained as a dancer with the Alvin Ailey company before earning his MFA at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, graduating in 1989 from its fiber program. Cranbrook's tradition of blurring art, craft and design suited him well. Soon afterward he began teaching fiber art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he later led the graduate fashion program. In 1992, after the police beating of Rodney King, he created his first Soundsuit, a full-body sculpture of twigs that rustled when worn, conceived as a protective second skin that hides race, gender and class. Hundreds of Soundsuits followed, made of buttons, sequins, hair, toys and found objects, and performed in dance works around the world. His career retrospective, Forothermore, opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2022 and traveled to the Guggenheim in New York.
Highlights
- MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art (1989)
- Created the first Soundsuit in 1992
- Directs the graduate fashion program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Retrospective Forothermore at MCA Chicago and the Guggenheim (2022–2023)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1987–1989
Cranbrook Academy of Art
Where he earned his MFA in fiber art in 1989.