Nick cave: Spotted
An exhibition of short films

February 26 - May 7, 2016
mainspace @ artspace

Since August 2015, Shreveport has been getting to know Soundsuit artist Nick Cave—in raffia Soundsuits rustling along the Mardi Gras parade routes, creating elaborately beaded blankets alongside the residents at Providence House, VOA LightHouse, VOA McAdoo and Mercy Center, and dancing with students at Northwestern State University and the Inter City Row Dance Company. Now you can see this world-renowned artist in a new way—leaping, spinning, dancing and hopping across the silver screen in the premier of “Spotted,” a capsule exhibition of five films that have become a significant part of the work Cave does to push the boundaries of art and performance.

“The exhibition of these short films, with Nick Cave Soundsuits at the center of each, connects the dots between Cave’s myriad mediums and messages including sculpture, installation, performance, film/video, fashion, social critique and the politics of race, identity and difference,” said Bob Faust, Studio/Special Projects Director for artist Nick Cave. “Nick Cave is a Messenger, Artist and Educator working between the visual and performing arts through a wide range of mediums,” added Faust. “He has been described as a Renaissance artist and says of himself, ‘I have found my middle and now …working toward what I am leaving behind’,” added Faust.

The five films that will premier @ artspace on Fri., Feb. 26th, 2016 include “Drive By,” Cave’s first professionally produced video. It was created after a “Vogue Magazine” photo shoot that Cave considers his first foray into a commercial-type culture. Suddenly the art of Nick Cave was accessible to anyone who could purchase the magazine, and Nick wanted to celebrate and document that move into pop-up culture. It features 25 performers all wearing varied Soundsuits decorated with twigs, raffia or hair and jumping, rolling, falling and dancing.

The other Nick Cave films premiering on Feb. 26th, 2016 @ artspace include three that were produced by Sandro Films in Chicago for an extravagant city-wide exhibition that Cave did in Lille, France. They include “Bunny Boy,” “Gestalt” and “Blot.” The fifth film was produced by The Right Brothers in Detroit during Cave’s “Hear Here” exhibition with Cranbrook University and documents what went on behind the scenes to create the exhibition.

When asked why he began filming his art rather than simply displaying or performing his famous Soundsuits, Cave said, “Film allows me to collect a record of my work ... a history of the moment. It also records the process giving me movement and images to review. It allows me to identify with the characters or identify characters for the future.”

There is no dialogue to the Nick Cave films—no definitive text. Cave prefers that the viewers interpret the works for themselves. When asked what the Cave films are about, Faust answers by saying, “These films allow you to dream while you’re awake. They let you open your own consciousness. You watch a Nick Cave film and you say to yourself, my brain is trying to tell me something—what is it? A Nick Cave film is a springboard to creating your own story,” added Faust.

The work that Soundsuit artist Nick Cave has been doing in Shreveport since August 2015 is some of the most social conscious work that he has ever done. He has chosen to work primarily in the Shreveport Common neighborhood with those impacted by AIDS, homelessness, poverty and abuse. Cave’s goal has been to encourage an entire community to accept its neighbors in the city's most disenfranchised nine-block area "AS IS." This ambitious project will come to a spectacular finale Sunday, March 20th, 2016 with a world premier performance that includes local singer Brenda Wimberly, spoken word artist PoeticX, an original score by local musician Michael Futreal, digital animation by John Durbin and a special guest appearance by “Bounce Queen” Big Frieda.