26-foot sculpture becomes second tallest at Meijer Gardens

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Twenty-six feet of bronze, branches and birds now stand tall at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.

The sculpture, Amalgam (Origin) , by Nick Cave, an internationally renowned artist, was unveiled Thursday, Oct.2 at a media event. The artwork will officially open to the public on Friday, Oct. 3.

Cave, who resides in Chicago, is an alum of metro Detroit’s Cranbrook Academy of Art.

The sculpture is the latest rendition in a long line of Cave’s Soundsuits. Until now, the suits were wearable pieces meant to mask the wearer’s identity, stripping the pre-conceived notions of race, class and gender.

Cave said the idea for the sculpture was a response to the beating of Rodney King, a black motorist, by white Los Angeles Police Officers in 1991 that was videotaped.