Displaying items by tag: nick cave

The Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri, which has trained or employed artists including Thomas Hart Benton, Robert Rauschenberg and Nick Cave and is celebrating its 130th anniversary, announced Tuesday that it had received a donation of $25 million, one of the largest gifts ever to an American art school.

The money, from a donor who has asked to remain anonymous, will be used to bolster the school’s general endowment, improve and renovate its campus adjacent to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and, in the form of a challenge grant of $6 million, sharply increase the number of scholarships the school is able to give out.

The Saint Louis Art Museum will present a free exhibition presenting new works by artist Nick Cave, the Missouri native who has captivated audiences with artworks spanning sculpture, fashion, installation and performance.

The exhibition, "Currents 109: Nick Cave," opens Oct. 31 and runs through March 8, 2015. The exhibition will include installations in Galleries 249 and 250 in the museum’s new East Building; a new media installation in Gallery 301; and an intervention in Gallery 102, a large gallery devoted to historical African art.

On Saturday, May 17, Jack Shainman inaugurated The School, his new gallery in Kinderhook, New York, with a performance by Nick Cave. Shainman, who runs two galleries in Manhattan, originally set out to find a storage space for his growing collection. After a change in plans, he enlisted Spanish architect Antonio Jiménez Torrecillas to convert the former Martin Van Buren Elementary School into a gallery. Outfitted with the requisite white walls and poured concrete floors, the space retained some of its original features, including the proscenium arch that once towered over the auditorium’s stage.

The 30,000-square-foot gallery, which is currently open by appointment only, is hosting an abbreviated Cave retrospective. Cave, a former dancer who trained with Alvin Ailey, is best known for his Soundsuits -- wearable fabric sculptures that are brightly colored and otherworldly, often made from found objects. The exhibition at The School also includes tondos sculpted out of fabric, mind-bending wallpaper, and bricolage sculptures. Cave’s performance on Saturday night featured dancers from nearby Williams College wearing his Soundsuits and traditional Ghanese music courtesy of the Agbekor Friends Society. In addition to hosting exhibitions, The School also houses Shainman’s growing permanent collection.