Colorful ‘Soundsuits’ mosaics by Nick Cave revealed at 42nd Street Shuttle passageway
All photos © Dana Schulz for 6sqft
Artist Nick Cave is best known for his Soundsuits, wearable sculptures made of natural materials like dyed human hair and feathers that make noise when worn. For his latest endeavor, creating a public art piece for the passageway that connects the B, D, F, and M trains to the 42nd Street shuttle, Cave translated his Soundsuits into colorful, energetic mosaics of dancers in Soundsuits made of raffia and fur. According to the New York Times, the $1.8M project was commissioned by MTA Arts & Design as part of the larger $250 million undertaking to revamp the shuttle. In addition to more than 24 intricate mosaics, Cave’s piece, titled “Every One,” includes a series of 11 digital screens that play videos of people in actual Soundsuits dancing.
Soundsuits are inspired by African traditions, but since they cover the whole body and are so large, they obscure any details about the person (race, gender, etc.), thus leaving the viewer without judgment. Cave created his first Soundsuit in 1992 in direct response to the police beating of Rodney King the year prior. He has since made more than 500. “They serve as a visual embodiment of social justice that represent both brutality and empowerment,” explains the Jack Shainman Gallery.
The Chicago-based artist–a fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist–was selected by the MTA for the project in 2018. Since then, he has been working on how to translate his signature art piece into a wall mosaic. In 2020, he began working with German mosaic fabricator Mayer of Munich, who has done many other works for the MTA, including William Wegman’s dog portraits at the 23rd Street F,M station and Vic Muniz’s 36 life-size human portraits at the 72nd Street Q station.
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Michael Mayer, great-grandson of Mayer of Munich founder Franz Mayer, explained to the Times that to create this piece, they applied the glass pieces (which includes the white background) to a mesh backing, after printing out the designs to scale.
The piece is 143 feet on one side and 179 feet on the other, with 11 digital screens in between.
On the other passageway wall, vertical tile bands mirror the colors in the Soundsuits.
Upon seeing the completed piece, Cave told the Times, “It’s almost like looking at a film strip. As you’re moving down that from left to right, you see it in motion.” He also said that he’d be interested in working in mosaic again.
There are two additional parts of Cave’s installation that will be installed next year. They include “Each One” at the new shuttle entrance and “Equal All” on the center island platform wall.
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- 72nd Street B, C station outside the Dakota reopens with mosaics by Yoko Ono
All photos © Dana Schulz for 6sqft
