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Nick Cave AO (b. 1957), singer, songwriter and author, was born in Warracknabeal, Victoria, and educated at Caulfield Grammar School, where he formed his first band, The Boys Next Door. In 1980, when Cave had spent two years at art school, the band changed its name to The Birthday Party and moved to London, where it significantly influenced other punk bands. With several talented recruits, members of the Birthday Party formed The Bad Seeds, whose first album was released in 1984. Soon after, Cave began his diverse involvement in films, appearing in the arthouse sensation Wings of Desire (1987), and wrote his first novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). He co-wrote, acted in and wrote the soundtrack for the critically acclaimed Ghosts . . . of the Civil Dead (1988), scripted the grim Australian drama The Proposition (2006) and appeared in I’m Your Man (2005–2006). He co-wrote and starred in a wry documentary drama about himself, 20 000 Days on Earth (2014). Push the Sky Away (2013), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ fifteenth studio recording, was their first Australian number-one album. Another biographical film, One More Time with Feeling, was made during the recording of their subsequent album, Skeleton Tree; it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2016. A long-term resident of the UK, Cave appears regularly before full houses in Europe, the USA and Australia.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2017
Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program
Accession number: 2017.140
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Ingvar Kenne (14 portraits)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
April Thompson explores an exhibition of Ingvar Kenne’s global portrait project.
An interview with graffiti artist Marc de Jong about the art of Howard Arkley.
Featuring striking photographic portraits of contemporary figures from the National Portrait Gallery collection, The Look is an aesthetic treat with a lashing of je ne sais quoi.