Nick Cave

Nick Cave (born February 4, 1959, in Fulton, Missouri, United States) is an American fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. Cave's family was large in size and always supportive of his artistic interests. He claims his upbringing gave him an artistic attentiveness to found objects and assemblages. Cave started his artistic journey by manipulating fabrics from older sibling's hand me downs. After he graduated Hickman High School in 1977, he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute where he finished a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1982. He is best known for his Soundsuits – wearable fabric sculptures that are bright, whimsical, and other-worldly. He also trained as a dancer with Alvin Ailey. His later sculptures focused on color theory, mixed media and large scale installations. He currently resides in Chicago, Illinois, and is director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He still continues to work on Soundsuits as well as works completed as a sculptor, dancer and performance artist.