Nick Cave "Thick Skin - Sound Suits" - Art 21

    

Cover Image for Art 21 Video- Nick Cave

    Nick Cave says he must learn to develop a thick skin in a world that may not be for him, or support him. He sees his art work as an act of rage, as an expression of an inner darkness and anger for the judgement and unjustness of his experience as a balck man. (this is dangerously an oversimplification i am aware). But he says that they hide these classifications that allow us to judge others and harness ill will towards perfect strangers. These pieces seem to be an extension of his experience of coming to terms with his identity as a black man in america. It also seem to arise from the way his mother prepared him for the world. I like that he says he gets quiet, that is a beautiful moment of quiet in his emotional process before he channels his emotional energy into these suits. I also can resonate with how they “come from a dark place” they have a presence to them that is bewildering yet enchantingly haunted and I think that comes from a place of being immediately affected emotionally by these really dynamic silhouettes. I think his choice to approach his unique identity and experience based on how he looks was to conceal these facts from people, to literally remove the ability to see bias based on skin, class, color or clothes, by transforming them. It comes off as morbid beauty. Im very allured by that, and i think depending on the suit im looking at, it feels like individual identity maybe even can perceive this work as an idealized vision for how we might be able to see other in the future, as bright colorful shining individuals, who are unique and do not need categorization and division to feel a belonging. That also felt like a very large personal projection on to the work...

 http://magazine.art21.org/2016/10/07/nick-caves-thick-skin/#.YFERrJ1KhnI