Nick Cave Opens New Exhibit of ‘Truth Be Told’ in Hollywood
SPEAKING THE TRUTH: Less than one year before his first retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Nick Cave, the civic-minded visual artist best known for his fantastical Soundsuits, made his big-screen debut this week with his “Truth Be Told” public art exhibit.
Projected on a full-motion digital tower at 8775 Sunset Boulevard, the work was created in collaboration with artist Bob Faust and was commissioned for West Hollywood, as part of Arts on Sunset.
The dual-screen video, spanning about 50 feet on the west side and 30 feet on the east side, features a moving figure, wearing a sequined Soundsuit. Its face is concealed, peering out from the facade of an abacus. It moves with defensive body language, as the words “Truth Be Told” appear in black and move in and out across the white frame. The frame changes to red and the phrase is repeated in repetition, filling up the entire space.
“At a time of so much disinformation and racist beliefs finally surfacing, it is more important than ever to speak truth to power, and in many cases to ourselves,” said Cave in a post about the exhibit on Instagram.
The first iteration of “Truth Be Told” was made in reaction to the murder of George Floyd, installed on Jack Shainman Gallery’s The School of Kinderhook in New York. New versions of the digital billboards are being shown this month throughout the U.S. including in Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and Boston, while the West Hollywood exhibit is on view through Aug. 30.
Meanwhile, Cave’s “Forothermore” retrospective at the MCA begins May 14, 2022.
