Nick Cave, one of the most physically expressive figures in rock and roll, was looking at me with suspicion. His eyebrows climbed the considerable expanse of his forehead; his slender frame tensed ...

For “Mammoth,” a new show at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, he takes up contentious issues of race and climate change in beads, sequins and Lite-Brite colors. The artist Nick Cave at his ...