COVER: Nick Cave / ARTnews / June 2012

Nick Cave, Bunny Boy, 2010, synthetic human hair, black wool crepe, and metal armature, 24 x 24 x 77 in.
James Prinz Photography/Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, NY.

Dressing For Excess

Text | Ann Landi

Nick Cave’s spectacular Soundsuits, adorned with sequins, doilies, toys, masks, and much more, straddle the worlds of performance, art, and fashion

Excerpt:

One ongoing project in the city of Chicago, known as “Bunny Boy,” takes a slightly different path, into intimate, interactive street performance. Three of Cave’s dancer friends dress up in pink, yellow, or blue bunny suits, roughly modeled after the cloying characters that show up around Easter, and hitchhike through different neighborhoods. “The project is, who picks up Bunny Boy?” explains Cave. “When you pick up Bunny Boy, we come up to your car and ask you why you did this. We only photograph and film your mouth, and we write down the time of day and the location. Then we’ll produce a video piece.“Sometimes you don’t know why you do something,” he adds. “It’s something primal and secret.”

Pick up a copy of ARTnews magazine’s June 2012 issue to read complete story.