Conflict Between Fun and Serious

Nick Cave – Recent Soundsuits

January 8th – February 7th

Jack Shainman Gallery


It’s important to see Nick Cave’s work with the expectation that you will not be able to make sense out of anything you see; but see it anyway. Insane clusters of jumbled branches fitted with items like the ceramic birds, fake flowers, or tops in every shape and size, surround the heads of garden gnome-like African American figurines and heavily patterned, fabric clad mannequins. More mannequins in various contraposto stances, don bright, one piece outfits with large head enclosures that project upward and are made of material that is either shaggy, bejeweled or knitted together like a collection of macramé tea cozies in clashing designs.

The overwhelming submersion in kitsch and craft makes these Soundsuits very entertaining. Like fairytale monsters, there is something dark in the playfulness of them; their covered faces and frozen bodies send fun house shivers down the spine. Trying to find a deeper pattern in the patterns, however, is a lot trickier. There seems to be an effort to address the history of slavery in America through various imagery (especially in a side room that has little in common with the rest of the show) but it’s impossible to sort through all the clutter of decoration and arbitrary juxtapositions to come to a solid conclusion about what Cave might be trying to say. It tastes like a half-baked attempt to give the work more political credibility when it doesn’t need it. The spectacle is enough.