Photos By Gail

Nick Cave‘s Hustle Coat (2021)  appears as a simple double breasted, trench coat made out of cotton. Though the outside of the jacket is plain, Cave transforms its lining into something fantastic. Describing his vision for the garment, he said, “just imagine, necklaces, chains, watches, jewelry, stones, are all sewn by hand into the lining of this coat, making it appear to be this jewelbox.”

A trench coat like this one was once the iconic, unofficial uniform of enterprising Street Salesman, who donned it as a vehicle for concealing an array of knock off for an authorized items for sale, including watches, gold chains, necklaces, and other glitzy objects. The clanging chains in joules stitched into Cave‘s version, or a nod to the street hustlers and their coats full of contraband.

Hustle Coat Detail with Obama Wrist Watch

Beyond its vivid, ornate assemblages of costume jewelry, which make the piece extremely heavy to wear, in its title Hustle Coat is a poetic homage to the “hustle code,” the often underacknowledged ‘hustle’ that anyone lacking privilege needs to perform in order to build a career. Cave frames this subversive language of commerce and consumption as a deftly irreverent yet genuine source of knowledge about class, excess, and surplus both in society, and the contemporary art discourse.

Photographed as Part of the Exhibit Furthermore at The Guggenheim Museum in NYC