Artwork Details
134 x 58 x 35 in. (installed) A) suit: 74 x 21 x 11 in. B) headpiece: 60 x 58 x 35 in.
Accession NumberPurchased with funds provided by Marc and Dana Katz, Michael and KimAnn Schultz, Margaret Wiley, Janet and Chris Brandt, New Year's Eve Event Patrons, General Endowed Discretionary Art Fund, Roger G. Wolcott Fund, Anonymous IV Art Fund, Elizabeth S. Lawton Fine Art Fund, Emma Harter Sweetser Fund
CopyrightProvenance
Provenance
(Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York); Purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 2013
Gallery Labels
Gallery Labels
Soundsuit
2013
Nick Cave American, b. 1959
mixed media including mannequin, fabric, ceramic birds, metal flowers, and antique gramophone
Nick Cave—a fashion designer, performance artist, and professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago —is best known for his larger-than-life colorful fabric sculptures known as Soundsuits. Named for the sounds they make when they are worn, these intricately hand-assembled sculptural forms are constructed from elaborate combinations of found objects. Buttons, bead strands, feathers, sisal, colorfully dyed human hair, twigs, toys, porcelain birds, and fake flowers are assembled on elaborate headdresses that are often worn with knitted and crocheted fitted bodysuits. These sculptural assemblages mask the gender, class, and ethnicity of the wearer, forcing the viewer to approach the works without judgement.
Purchased with funds provided by Marc and Dana Katz, Michael and KimAnn Schultz, Margaret Wiley, Janet and Chris Brandt, New Year's Eve Event Patrons, General Endowed Discretionary Art Fund, Roger G. Wolcott Fund, Anonymous IV Art Fund, Elizabeth S. Lawton Fine Art Fund, Emma Harter Sweetser Fund, 2013.296A-B
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