To see one of Nick Cave's enchanting "Soundsuits" is to feel a presence. To stand in the company of a dozen of them, as one may do at the Society for Contemporary Craft, is to understand the vastness of possibility -- that of fantasy, of metaphor, of what one person can conceive -- and, essentially, of the ebullient energy that feeds life itself.

These "suits" are, on the one hand, elaborate costumes, many of them so stupendously bejeweled, sequined and beaded that they intoxicate the eye.

But what sets them apart is that they are, further, objects of ritual, like those that appear in the rites of indigenous peoples, wherein the clothing becomes indistinguishable from the entity referenced. In this respect, they are instruments of empowerment.

It makes sense, then, that the Soundsuits arose from an incident that epitomized disempowerment and transmitted fear. And it speaks to Cave's magnanimity and insight that they transcend such dark realms, moving like fairy-tale beings in and out of that limbic zone that straddles experience and imagination, the threatening and the benign.

Ultimately, they are works of art.

Cave, an African-American artist born in 1959 in Jefferson City, Mo., made his first Soundsuit in response to the 1991 beating by white Los Angeles police officers of a black man, Rodney King.

Since then, the suits have evolved into highly polished, time-intensive works that draw upon a broad conceptual and experiential field for inspiration, ranging from personal memories to art or social tenets.

Standing in front of one of his more elaborate works -- each of which stands larger than life when fleshed out over a mannequin -- Cave spoke about the bevy of ceramic bird figurines attached to the branches of a metal tree that formed a somewhat surreal headdress.

Relegated to the backwaters of kitsch by the contemporary artworld, Cave noted that the birds were the kind of sculpture forbidden in the studios of the Kansas City Art Institute and Cranbrook Academy of Art, from which he earned degrees.

At the same time, they have nostalgic appeal, reminding him of what might be found in his grandparents' china cabinet, or any others of the same time period. "[The figures] are something anyone can connect to. This is what they cherished. It's connecting back to a place of innocence."

Similarly, the vintage metal flowers surrounding another figure -- thrift-store finds, as is most of his material, left "as is" -- "refers back to my grandparents' farms that I grew up on," a safe place sans "worries or concerns." Referencing both Mexican folk trees-of-life and contemporary appropriation actions, it shows Cave's capacity to conflate art-craft boundaries.

The name, Soundsuit, refers to the emanations they produce when in motion, some aural but others more metaphysical.

A catchy video that plays in the gallery, "Nick Cave: Soundsuits in Motion," in which dancers activate the suits, demonstrates the extra dimension animation provides. Trailing strands of fiber swirl across the screen as fluid color and line. Whether shimmy or breakdance, Cave's suits bring new excitement to movement.

By revivifying cast-off objects, Cave makes the invisible visible, raising issues of valuation and even recycling. By using fiber, he speaks to domestic work and gender roles. By employing kitsch, he challenges hierarchy and authority.

By referencing fashion -- the figures are displayed as if walking a runway, many of their materials once-fashionable gowns and sweaters -- he addresses identity and class issues, even the uproar that accompanied the Guggenheim's 2000 Armani display.

As befits the head of the Department of Fashion Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the cover subject of the current Ornament magazine, Cave creates complex work.

All of this is guided by an unerring aesthetic: He knows what he likes.

"Not everything works," Cave says of his shopping trips through secondhand stores. "There's a communicative device that I connect to in materials. I respond like when you see a puppy for the first time. It's a second, and I know it."

"Nick Cave" continues through Feb. 23 at 2100 Smallman St., Strip District. Admission is free. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 412-261-7003 or www.contemporarycraft.org.

Two longtime local artworld favorites come together from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Mendelson Gallery, 5874 Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside, where architect/artist/author/urban designer David Lewis will sign copies of his hot-off-the-press monograph on furniture-maker Rob Brandegee. Brandegee uses wood recycled from 18th- and 19th-century Western Pennsylvania log cabins, log houses and barns to create handsomely designed works that are a blend of sculpture and function, art and craft.

The color-illustrated 48-page book, "Brandegee: Usable Art," shows his furniture placed -- and a comfortable fit -- in a variety of settings, including antique, modern and contemporary ($20). Both Lewis and Brandegee are exhibiting works in the gallery through Saturday (412-361-8664).