Body & Soul

With a full slate of 2020 projects, multimedia artist Nick Cave reaffirms his dedication to fostering community, speaking truth to power and celebrating our wondrous, vulnerable bodies

- Osman Can Yerebakan

On a foggy Chicago morning I find myself sweating atop an elliptical in a hotel gym, preparing my questions for Nick Cave. I push and pull the machine’s handles as fast as works from Cave’s vast repertoire march through my mind. His impossibly intricate Soundsuit sculptures dance in full ecstasy, their fringes twirling; the dance party he organized around a mammoth rotating streamer curtain for The Let Go, an immersive exhibition that debuted at New York’s Park Avenue Armory, reappears in epic radiance.

My visit to the gym before our meeting stems from an urge to project deftness — intellectually and physically — in front of a man whose art has allured, provoked, and moved the public for nearly three decades.

At first sight, Cave, 61, radiates controlled dynamism through his sculpted physique and magnetic eye contact. Standing beside him in a room populated with items he has gathered to create new Soundsuits — the first in years, he says — I notice a pile of colorful sweaters on an ironing board. Two male mannequins are stationed by a cassette player Cave still uses to switch between tunes according to his mood. He wears an all-black ensemble of sports jersey and skirt, finished with chunky high-top sneakers. We proceed to wander through Facility, a multipurpose studio, gallery, and private space he shares with his personal and professional partner, graphic designer Bob Faust, and their dog, Bam Bam.