The More You Look, The More You See

Nick Cave's glittery Wall Relief offers incredible depth and detail. 

I recently had the opportunity to take my son to the current exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Nick Cave: Feat is open until Feb. 16, so you still have time to see it, too, if you like!

The exhibit is an enthralling collection of sculpture and other work, and it's incredibly detailed. The viewer is first confronted by a series of human-shaped sculptures that Cave calls soundsuits (because of the noise made when they move - though I can hardly imagine these suits actually being worn, much less moved around in). Cave began creating these after the beating of Rodney King more than 25 years ago. From the museum's website - "As an African-American man, Cave felt particularly vulnerable after the incident, so he formed a type of armor that protected him by concealing race, gender, and class."

The soundsuits are varied and mesmerizing.

The suits are so intricate and varied, so different from one another, that you can spend a long time looking at them and finding new things.

My son and I both loved the video installation Blot, which is almost a moving Rorschach test. We sat in front of it for several minutes, pointing out what we saw and thought as the image folded in and over on itself on screen.

Installations like Rescue and Wall Relief feature incredible depth, and you may find yourself recognizing some of the mass-produced ceramics or duplicates of the same that appear in these pieces. (I got serious grandma vibes from both, as my grandmother was an avid collector of ceramics - little birds, figurines, etc. She had a huge collection on display.) Watching the light bounce off them as you explore evokes seeing glittering dew on leaves.

Another favorite, particularly of my son, was Architectural Forest, which evolves as you walk around it and change your perspective. Patterns, structure, dominant colors flow from one view to the next. Fascinating. We both loved this piece.

Tickets are a reasonable $15 pp, with K-12 students getting in free! There are also special rates for college students and seniors. You can also check out the permanent collection, New Symphony of Time, for free. And the museum is open seven days a week! Definitely worth a stop.

In some ways, this Architectural Forest is much like a real one - the more you look, the more you see.