NICK CAVE

American artist best known for his wearable mixed-media constructions known as Soundsuits, which act simultaneously as fashion, sculpture, and noisemaking performance art.

Cave began exploring fibre arts and fashion while attending the Kansas City (Missouri) Art Institute (B.F.A.; 1982). During his time there he also studied with Alvin Ailey’s modern dance company, initiating his active interest in constructing a bridge between dance, fashion, and art. He earned a master’s in fine arts (1989) at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and later became chairman of the fashion design program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Throughout his career, Cave made use of found and ready-made materials to reference cultural, political, and autobiographical issues.