Stand and Build
a fabrication + design studio
Nick Cave: Ever-After at Jack Shainman Gallery NYC
Completed: Fall 2011
Location: Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, NY
Project Type: museum-grade custom plinths, modular exhibition platforms, on-site seamless finishing & joint filling, load-bearing engineering, delivery & installation logistics
For visual artist Nick Cave’s landmark solo exhibition Ever-After at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea, Stand and Build engineered and fabricated a suite of custom exhibition platforms and structural display plinths. Marking a major presentation of Cave’s multi-layered Soundsuits and sculptural tableaux, the exhibition required display architecture that met institutional stability standards while maintaining a clean, minimalist gallery presence.
Fabricated in our Long Island City facility, the scope included custom freestanding pedestals along with expansive stage platforms engineered to support dense clusters of figurative sculptures. To accommodate the scale of the gallery space, the platforms were built as modular sub-assemblies in our Queens shop, then transported to Chelsea where our crew joined and mechanically fastened the sections on-site. The team filled all mating seams and meticulously sanded the surfaces flush before applying a continuous museum-grade matte white finish, creating a massive, monolithic foundation—highlighted by an approximately 40-foot by 20-foot seamless oval platform.
Given the heavy point loads and delicate balance of Cave's mixed-media figures, all platforms were internally ribbed to prevent floor deflection and ensure solid stability under foot traffic. Stand and Build managed shop pre-assembly, protective transit logistics, and the complete on-site installation and finishing sequence inside Jack Shainman Gallery, delivering a pristine, seamless environment for the exhibition opening.