Nick Cave, Rescue, 2013 , mixed mediums including ceramic birds, metal flowers, ceramic Doberman, vintage settee, and light fixture, 88 by 72 by 44 inches. © Nick Cave. Photo James Prinz Photography. Courtesy the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
“Rescue,” Nick Cave’s show at Jack Shainman’s 24th Street location, has the air of someone’s grandmother’s house, loaded down with bric-a-brac, but in zero gravity. Throughout the gallery, life-size ceramic dogs perch on plush settees, armchairs and loveseats. Playing on domestic sensibilities, Cave creates half-shell halos for the canines using teacups and ornaments. Cave has bricolaged kitschy found objects into giant glitter bombs that hang on the wall. Hung on the surrounding walls are large relief wall sculptures, dripping with crystals, beads, and metal flowers that coalesce into imposing abstractions. “Rescue” is half of a two-part show at both Shainman’s Chelsea locations; the found objects in “Made by Whites for Whites,” at Shainman’s 20th Street venue, are considerably more piquant, focusing on caricatured representations of blackness.