Nick Cave’s first public outdoor sculpture installed at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park (Grand Rapids, MI) is now home to the first public outdoor sculpture by internationally celebrated artist Nick Cave, adding a new name to its roster of artists represented in its permanent collection. Amalgam (Origin), a monumental, 26-foot-tall sculpture, was installed on the North Path near The Richard & Helen DeVos Japanese Garden and Michigan’s Farm Garden. Open to the public as of October 3, 2025, this work expands Meijer Gardens’ collection of more than 300 international sculptures.
“Now that Amalgam (Origin) has been integrated within the natural environment, the work’s catalytic power has been fully activated,” said Suzanne Ramljak, Vice President of Collections & Curatorial Affairs. “Nick Cave’s epic sculpture will stand as a monument to individual and collective strength, and to our profound rootedness in nature.”
Amalgam (Origin) is an evolution, on a colossal scale, of Nick Cave’s iconic Soundsuits—spectacular forms blending fashion and sculpture that were created in response to the brutal beating of Rodney King by police in 1991. Though they originated as a form of protection, the Soundsuits have since developed into vehicles for empowerment, with Cave having made hundreds in varying shapes and materials, all based on the scale of his own body. Serving as physical camouflage, the elaborate sculpted surfaces create a second skin that conceals race, gender and class, forcing viewers to look without judgment.
Cave’s work draws from craft traditions, fashion, vintage textiles and other labor-intensive practices to create surfaces that are visually ornate and historically specific. In Amalgam (Origin), the collage-like element of his aesthetic is expressed by the highly textured and detailed bronze casting. In contrast to Cave’s earlier seated bronze, A•mal•gam, the monumental and towering Amalgam (Origin) appears firmly rooted in the earth, as if growing directly out of the soil. Like a community beacon, the sculpture celebrates each person’s unique individuality while connecting it to humanity’s shared grounding in the natural world.
While Meijer Gardens featured Nick Cave’s related A•mal•gam work in its exhibition “Forest of Dreams: Contemporary Tree Sculpture” (October 20, 2023-February 25, 2024), Amalgam (Origin) is Cave’s first permanent sculpture in the collection.
“It’s a joy to see Amalgam (Origin) take up permanent residence at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park,” stated Nick Cave. “After first sharing an Amalgam here in the ‘Forest of Dreams’ exhibition, returning with a work that will meet visitors across seasons feels right. I made this piece for open air and changing light, and this landscape offers the kind of daily conversation with trees, weather, and people that brings it fully alive. As a Cranbrook alum, bringing my first major outdoor sculpture back to Michigan is a true full-circle moment.”
A Chicago resident, Cave has strong ties to Michigan. Receiving his master’s degree in fine arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Detroit in 1989, he returned in 2015 for “Nick Cave: Here Hear,” (June 20-October 11, 2015) in which he staged seven months of events throughout Detroit anchored by his first solo exhibition at Cranbrook.
Cave is a professor at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
“As we close our organization’s 30th anniversary year, we remain dedicated to diversifying our world-class sculpture collection with evocative works like that of Nick Cave,” said Charles Burke, President & CEO. “Amalgam (Origin) is a significant addition to our collection, and we are honored that he returned after exhibiting with us last year to choose Meijer Gardens as the home of his first public outdoor sculpture.”
About Nick Cave
Nick Cave (b. 1959, Fulton, MO; lives and works in Chicago, IL) is an artist, educator and foremost a messenger, working between the visual and performing arts through a wide range of mediums including sculpture, installation, video, sound and performance.
Cave is well known for his Soundsuits, sculptural forms based on the scale of his body, initially created in direct response to the police beating of Rodney King in 1991. Soundsuits camouflage the body, masking and creating a second skin that conceals race, gender and class, forcing the viewer to look without judgment. They serve as a visual embodiment of social justice that represents both brutality and empowerment.
Throughout his practice, Cave has created spaces of memorial through combining found historical objects with contemporary dialogues on gun violence and death, underscoring the anxiety of severe trauma brought on by catastrophic loss. The figure remains central as Cave casts his own body in bronze, an extension of the performative work so critical to his oeuvre. Cave reminds us, however, that while there may be despair, there remains space for hope and renewal. From fragmented body parts stem delicate metal flowers, affirming the potential of new growth. Cave encourages a profound and compassionate analysis of violence and its effects as the path towards an ultimate metamorphosis.
While Cave’s works are rooted in our current societal moment, when progress on issues of global warming, racism and gun violence (both at the hands of citizens and law enforcement) seem maddeningly stalled, he asks how we may reposition ourselves to recognize the issues, come together on a global scale, instigate change, and ultimately, heal.
About Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, one of the world’s most significant botanic and sculpture experiences, is consistently ranked in the top 100 most-visited museums in the world by The Art Newspaper, the leading global art news publication.
The permanent collection highlights hundreds of sculptures from internationally acclaimed artists Magdalena Abakanowicz, El Anatsui, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Mark di Suvero, Henry Moore, Beverly Pepper, Jaume Plensa, Auguste Rodin, Richard Serra, Yinka Shonibare CBE, and Ai Weiwei, among others. Indoor galleries with changing sculpture exhibitions have presented numerous solo shows, including artists Jonathan Borofsky, Edgar Degas, Jim Dine, Richard Hunt, Cristina Iglesias, Michele Oka Donor, George Segal, David Smith, and others.
The 158-acre main campus features Michigan’s largest tropical conservatory; one of the country’s largest interactive children’s gardens; arid and Victorian gardens with bronze sculptures by Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin; a carnivorous plant house; outdoor gardens, including a replica 1930s-era farm garden; an 8-acre Japanese garden featuring contemporary sculpture; and a 1,900-seat outdoor amphitheater garden, showcasing an eclectic mix of world-renowned touring musicians each summer.
