Nick Cave Is Selling Erotic Wallpaper

Nick Cave Is Selling Erotic Wallpaper

Last year, Nick Cave released his latest album, the crushing and gorgeous Ghosteen. It was another installment in a remarkably rich late-career stretch from a songwriting standpoint. But in recent years Cave has also undertaken a whole lot of other projects, in the process assuming a new and far more open public identity than he’d often had in the past. He announced an autobiography. He regularly engages with fans directly via his Red Hand File newsletter, eloquently and thoughtfully answering thorny questions. He also recently filmed a solo piano performance, dubbed Idiot Prayer. He’s a busy man, and he always seems to be trying new things. And so now, he’s selling erotic wallpaper.

To be fair, Nick Cave is selling a lot of things. That is the whole premise, after all, of his new webstore Cave Things. The new store “will explore a wide range of concepts and design collaborations,” an intro stated. “Every Cave Thing is conceived, sourced, shaped and designed by Nick personally, and is grounded in a love of, well, things — ideas and dreams, experiments and explorations.” And accordingly, there is quite an array of things on offer from Cave Things: “an over-priced plectrum” i.e. a guitar pick with Warren Ellis’ face on it, a red right hand necklace charm, pencils, “motivational T-shirt No. 1″ which has a quote from Nick Cave’s mom, apparently, stating “Head High And Fuck ‘Em All.” There’s a poster with the climactic “Jubilee Street” line “I’m transforming/ I’m vibrating/ Look at me now!” next to a drawing of a puppy.

A lot of it’s pretty whimsical stuff compared to what one might expect from Cave. But then there are some things that are so bizarre and yet so Nick Cave that they’re somehow the perfect distillation of this whole Cave Things business. There’s a supposedly rejected bit of single art for “Into My Arms,” if you believe Cave wanted a hushed and meditative song accompanied by a porny sketch of a nude woman. He also has a drawing of the “Hyatt girls,” an erotic doodle from 2006 that he has put on the cover of a notebook and, coming soon, wallpaper as well. The description reads:

‘The Hyatt Girls’ doodles by Nick Cave, 2006
Size: 50 cm x 10 m
Print: Digital print
Material: 150g non-woven wallcovering
Applied directly to the wall. No soaking needed.

On one page, there’s a free-standing quote (one amongst several) seemingly describing the content of the store once again: “The terrible residue of an over-stimulated mind.” Anyway, since the over-stimulated mind in question is Nick Cave’s there’s some fun stuff in there, and you can check it all out here.

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