Nick Cave – Portrait of a Devil. Fotografie: Thomas Merle. courtesy of the artist and Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Nick Cave is not only a musician, but also a writer and artist. Recently he enjoys working with ceramics. This resulted in an intriguing series in which Cave depicted the different phases in the devil’s life. After these were first shown at Xavier Hufkens in Brussels, they will be released on December 14 Museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar.
This exhibition is a first for Nick Cave, as it is his first solo exhibition in a museum ever. The Devil — A Life features seventeen glazed ceramic figurines. These show Cave’s interpretation of the Devil’s life. They are made in the style of the so-called Victorian Staffordshire flatback figurines, popular figurines that were made in England in the period 1837-1900.
Nick Cave: “What started as a desire to create a single devil figure as a vehicle for an intense red glaze grew into a journey towards a kind of redemption from a series of shattering events. This [de keramische werken] – and in fact all the songs I write – are about the idea of forgiveness, the idea that there is a moral virtue in beauty. It is a kind of balancing of our sins.”
It is striking that Nick Cave does not portray the devil as a purely evil force, but that it has human characteristics. For example, by portraying the devil as a child or by taking the devil’s place yourself. The work Devil in Remorse shows a crying Nick Cave, a kind of self-portrait. This fits well with the period in his life when Cave started this series. It was in the middle of the grieving process after the death of his son. Anyone who has read the beautiful book Faith, Hope and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan knows that the statues of the devil are discussed several times.
Nick Cave: “You know, at night, when I’m trying to sleep, I close my eyes and see the statues passing by one after the other – the newborn Devil nestled against the foal, the toddler with his fireball, the child with the red monkey , the Devil who seduces the girl, the Devil who goes to war through a field of flowers and then returns on a black horse along a road of skulls, they go on and on, the Devil with his bride and the golden rabbit, the Devil who kills the child sacrifice on the altar, the Devil cut loose from the world, and so on and on, the Devil sitting on a wall, a pool of tears around his feet, his chilling, dramatic death and finally his body washed up on a beach, a crouching figure next to him child holding out his hand in forgiveness. This procession has a certain meaning and brings me enormous comfort. It brings my own story forward from the darkness, from the chaos, to bear witness to something. It brings order to the world and a kind of peace.”
Nick Cave – The Devil: A Life can be seen from December 14, 2024 to March 23, 2025.
Nick Cave – Devil as ChildNick Cave – Devil in RemorseNick Cave – Devil’s Last Dance
