At center: Amalgam (Origin), 2024 - bronze, 309 5/8 x 201 x 227 inches

Marking the inaugural presentation at Jack Shainman Gallery’s flagship Tribeca location, American sculptor, dancer, and performance artist Nick Cave introduces Amalgams and Graphts, two distinct series that push his singular style and vision to an epic realm while maintaining an intimate and personal conversation with his audience.

Anchoring the exhibition is a series of three large bronze sculptures, titled Amalgams. These contemporary monuments create a positive, inclusive and resilient alternative to the plethora of public art that has often misrepresented history, silenced diverse voices and commemorated war and conquest.

The Amalgams are an evolution of Cave’s iconic Soundsuits, which were created in response to the brutal beating of Rodney King by police in 1991. They concealed race, gender and class to force the viewer to engage without preconceived judgment. In the new Amalgams, Cave fuses casts from his own body with natural forms such as flowers, birds, and trees with similar effects.

Debuting alongside these bronze figures is Cave’s newest series, Graphts. These mixed media assemblages situate needlepoint portraits of the artist amongst fields of florals and color constructed from vintage serving trays. While Cave has often used his own body within his artwork, this is the first time that he has revealed a recognizable self.

Together, the Amalgams and Graphts investigate how we portray race, class and power, as well as how these larger institutional systems shape our identities. They are both deeply personal and universal, allowing viewers many entry points into a reflective experience.

Interview by Logan Royce Beitmen

Thank you for joining me, and congratulations on your new show with Jack Shainman. It’s truly a tour de force!

In 2022, you had a major retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, and I attended your discussion with chief curator Naomi Beckwith. I remember you telling her of your ambition to someday create a monumental version of a Soundsuit in the twenty-five to thirty-foot height range. Now, just a little over two years later, you’ve accomplished that goal with Amalgam (Origin). What made you want to work at this scale?

The evolution of the Soundsuits and Amalgam has been a long time coming. My work with Soundsuits has always been closely tied to performance, serving as a tool for outreach and community engagement.

From the beginning, Soundsuits have allowed me to collaborate in ways that extend beyond traditional institutions. This approach has enabled me to bring together incredible creative minds to build large-scale performance projects that exist outside of galleries and museums. My work has always had a civic element—creating opportunities for art to exist in public spaces, where it can reach broader audiences.

Amalgam follows that same philosophy. Accessibility is a central concern in my practice, and I’m always thinking about how to bring my work to communities that might not frequently visit museums or galleries. The question is: how do I create opportunities for people to encounter my work in open, public spaces.

Amalgam (Plot), 2024 - bronze, tole flowers and cast iron door stops - 23 x 100 x 47 inches (face-down figure), 63 x 68 x 65 inches (face-up figure), 63 x 120 x 125 inches (overall)

A·mal·gam, 2021 - bronze, 122 x 94 x 85 inches

In addition to the Amalgam sculptures, the show includes eight Graphts. This is your new series of mixed-media wall pieces with three-dimensional elements. What inspired you for those?

It’s really about bonding and bringing elements together, much like the process of grafting. When I think about grafting in relation to the body, it’s about taking skin from one area and integrating it into another. Similarly, I’m interested in how the work can break down yet still rebuild itself, creating something new in the process.

Grapht, 2024 - vintage metal serving trays, vintage tole, and needlepoint on wood panel - 95 1/2 x 47 1/2 x 2 inches (each panel), 95 1/2 x 193 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches (overall)

Grapht, 2024 - vintage metal serving trays and vintage tole on wood panel - 36 1/2 x 36 1/2 x 2 inches (each panel), 73 x 36 1/2 x 17 inches (overall)

When I think about other influential assemblage artists, including Thornton Dial, Lonnie Holley, and Robert Rauschenberg, it seems significant that many grew up in poor, rural environments. Do you feel a kinship with them?

For me, finding the material language that best supports my ideas is the most important thing. The medium always follows the concept—whichever material best serves the idea is what I use. I don’t feel bound to a particular way of working; rather, my process is about testing, exploring, and refining until the concept finds its ideal form.

Grapht, 2024 - vintage metal serving trays and needlepoint on wood panel - 36 1/4 x 36 1/4 x 2 inches (each panel), 72 1/4 x 36 1/4 x 2 inches (overall)

Grapht, 2024 - vintage metal serving trays and vintage tole on wood panel - 95 1/2 x 47 1/2 x 2 inches (each panel) - 95 1/2 x 95 1/2 x 10 inches (overall)

Grapht, 2024 - vintage metal serving trays, vintage tole, and needlepoint on wood panel - 36 1/4 x 36 1/4 x 2 inches (each panel), 72 1/4 x 36 1/4 x 10 3/4 inches (overall)

Sometimes, when artists “scale up,” they sacrifice detail. However, you’ve achieved the awe-inspiring impact of monumentality while maintaining visual complexity at the micro level. Was it a challenge to create something that grabs people’s attention from a distance but continues to maintain their curiosity as they get closer?

I use embellishment to build curiosity. The embellishments on the body come from a variety of sources—I’ve spent a lot of time searching through eBay, Etsy, flea markets, and antique malls. Many of the elements I use are decorative home decor objects called Syroco, popular in the 1960s and '70s. These plastic floral reliefs were commonly used as wall ornamentation in people’s homes.

I was particularly drawn to these floral reliefs as a way to bring a sense of adornment to the body. When thinking about surface design, I often reference the Renaissance, floral patterns in fabric, wallpaper, and French decorative arts. At the same time, I was also considering themes of nature, Mother Earth, and the idea of new growth. All of these influences shaped how I approached incorporating relief surfaces into the work.