Nick Cave

Nick Cave is a multimedia artist and educator whose practice often involves community participation, performances, textile and beaded craft, discarded materials, and fantastical decorative environments. Cave is well known for his Soundsuits—vibrant sculptural forms that fully envelop and mask the wearer. Soundsuits function as surreal and eye-catching second skins that conceals race, gender, and class, inviting observation without preconceived ideas or judgments.

Drive-by Remix (2017) features Cave’s Soundsuits in motion. Colorful textiles spin exuberantly across the screen as the Soundsuits somersault and roll, fall from the sky, bounce on pogo sticks, and dance across an endless white field. Amidst the energetic movement, a figure adorned with a stop sign appears, conveying an underlying sense of urgency in the jubilant expression of freedom.  

Drive-By Remix is a new version of Cave’s film Drive-By (2011), which was originally presented in the windows of a corner storefront in Chicago, IL. Now in its Times Square debut, the work is reorganized with amplified colors to make use of this unique location’s identity as an American cultural crossroads.

“Times Square is a living representation of America as a melting pot. My hope is that by turning our collective gaze up to the city’s sky and taking in the Soundsuits in all their limitless exuberance, we can let some of that positivity seep into our own skins.” — Nick Cave

Drive-by Remix is presented in partnership with Jack Shainman Gallery on the occasion of If a Tree Falls, an exhibition of new bodies of Cave’s work on view at Jack Shainman Gallery from November 1–December 22, 2018.

“Nick Cave is one of the great artists of our time, and it’s a privilege to share his work with the public in Times Square. This complex video braids three strands that are crucial to an understanding of this place: the celebration of diverse cultures, a history of social activism, and—particularly in the New Year season—the beautiful expression of collective joy in the public sphere.” — Andrew Dinwiddie, Acting Director, Times Square Arts

© Nick Cave. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Videography: Robert Cauble, Andrew Benz and Yoni Goldstein
Editing: Jeff Nolan, Nolan Collaborative