Press Release

November 8, 2006
Contact Vicki Brodnax at 407-646-2526

NICK CAVE'S TRIBAL HAUTE-COUTURE SCULPTURE AT CORNELL

Winter Park, FL – The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College opens its Winter/Spring exhibition season on Friday, January 19 with several exhibitions which celebrate mid-century abstraction and late twentieth-century contemporary art.  Among the array of four new exhibitions, the installation of Chicago-based artist Nick Cave’s Soundsuits 2006 provides an extraordinary opportunity to see the artist’s sculptural suits acclaimed by the New York Times as “must be seen to be believed”. (Fri., Nov. 3, 2006)  The CFAM installation will be on view January 19 through May 20, 2007.    A private preview and reception for the media, artists, VIPs, and museum members, will be held on Thursday, January 18, from 6 - 8 PM.

Chair of the Fashion Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Mr. Cave creates sculptural costumes that are altogether excessive, extravagant, tribal-haute couture ensembles that conjure up an image of urban-African-ceremonial costumes.  Nick Cave crafts the Soundsuits from deconstructed vintage apparel, twigs, bottle caps, corks, lint, found socks and sweaters, Easter grass, mirrors, sequins, wood, and anything else he finds on city-wide material-gathering forays.  Many of Cave’s Soundsuits are designed to be worn and danced as “performance art.”  Cave’s tour-de-force sculptures belong to a tradition of wearable art that reference tribal costuming in Africa, the Carnival in the Caribbean, South and Latin America, and indigenous ceremonies both sacred and profane.

Gallery hours are 10 AM to 5 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and Sunday 1 to 5 PM.  Admission is $5 for adults.  There is no charge for CFAM Members, or Rollins College Faculty, Staff, and all Students with current ID.  The Cornell Fine Arts Museum is located on the campus of Rollins College near downtown Winter Park.  For additional information, please call 407-646-2526, or visit www.rollins.edu/cfam.