Nick Cave

Weather or Not

Jack Shainman Gallery

New York, 513 West 20th Street

This presentation will debut a series of wire Tondos, in which swirling cacophonies of colors are created from the layered mapping of cataclysmic weather patterns superimposed onto brain scans of black youth suffering from PTSD as a result of gun violence. The focused, sparse installation of the bright Tondos, anchored by one larger looming black and white iteration, evokes a feeling of immediacy.

This new body of work has roots in several familiar aspects of Cave’s practice, including his ebullient fabric Tondos, and recent black and white button Soundsuits with oversized filter faces. Seen within this larger arc of Cave’s practice, the Tondos feel disembodied, removed from their figurative context, underscoring the anxiety of severe trauma brought on by catastrophic loss. As one moves around the Tondos, ominous target patterns emerge, playing with obscurities in vision and perspective.

As with much of Cave’s work, the seemingly seductive speaks to profound, often darker truths – the emerging graphic highlighting a sense of gravity and imminent danger. Yet there is also an engagement with hope. Enchanting and shimmering, these Tondos are also joyfully, unapologetically beautiful. They may be rooted in our current societal moment, when progress on issues of global warming and gun violence (both at the hands of citizens and law enforcement) seem maddeningly stalled, but Cave’s works ask how we may reposition ourselves to recognize the issues, come together on a global scale, instigate change, and, ultimately, heal.