A towering bronze figure, clothed in sculpted branches and blooming with birds, will soon find its home on the grounds of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Standing 26 feet tall, Amalgam (Origin) by Nick Cave marks the Chicago-based artist’s first major outdoor commission and a striking into the realm of permanent public sculpture.
Unveiling this fall, the piece will join the Meijer Garden’s prestigious outdoor private collection, alongside works by Ai Weiwei, Jaume Plensa and Louise Bourgeois. But Amalgam (Origin) carries something uniquely its own: a blend of vulnerability, rootedness and joy that stems from Cave’s long-standing exploration of identity and protest. The work, said Cave, is an evolution from his canonical Soundsuits, the vibrant sculptural garments that merge fashion, dance and art.
Amalgam is cast from Cave’s own body, its surface covered in sculpted branches, blossoms and clusters of birds. At the figure’s crown, a tangle of limbs resembles a towering tree, creating what Cave described as a place where different bird species might gather and network.
The floral and vegetative forms were drawn from objects — china figurines and bric-a-brac — that Cave often finds at antique malls while scavenging with his partner, Bob Faust. Though Cave had once been intimidated by working in bronze, the durable medium allowed him to envision a sculpture that would live and change with the seasons.
“Amalgam brings together the two key elements of our gardens, which is nature and art,” said Suzanne Ramljak, vice president of collections and curatorial affairs at Meijer Gardens. “It’s a continuation of a body being in this world and feeling strong and safe, but it’s also as naked as any of his figures have been. In Nick’s evolution, it’s his declaration: ‘I am safe with a thin veil of nature.’ ”
What sets Amalgam (Origin) apart is not just its size (though it will be Meijer Gardens’ tallest figurative work) but its presence. The figure’s stance evokes a classical contrapposto, rooted in ancient sculpture and echoed in self-defense postures. Yet that power pairs with a decorative top meant to resemble a bird’s nest, built from “objects that would be in one grandmother’s china cabinet,” said Cave, who is fresh off a solo show that christened the new Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. “I like this idea of birds of a feather flock together — the migration hub as a place to gather and network.”
Birds — or people. “It also connects to the idea of protest and how we can stand collectively as one,” added Cave.
For Cave, the sculpture’s life outdoors opens up new questions and new possibilities. “I’m interested in the elements,” he said. “What’s it going to look like once it’s covered in snow? What does that feel like?” He remains open to whatever relationships the work might build with its environment over time.
Amalgam (Origin) also opens up a conversation about monuments and the shifting role they play in American society today, with many — including Chicago’s own Christopher Columbus — being removed or forcibly taken down. “This work had already been in the making before this whole monument takedown really transpired,” Cave said, “but I think this sculpture is sort of like a new birth. Something comes down and then this new birth and new beginning emerges.”
Amalgam (Origin) marks Cave’s first permanent sculpture designed for the public realm, a space he has long engaged through performance and ephemeral installations but is only now entering through monumental form. “There is still this question of how it’s going to live in the world,” he said. “The permanency of that, what that even means.”
It’s a direction Cave hopes to continue exploring. “Eventually, it’s going to happen — a bronze in Chicago,” he said. “It’s always on my mind. It’s always there for consideration.”
Elly Fishman is an arts writer.
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