[1] He is best known for his Soundsuit series: wearable assemblage fabric sculptures that are bright, whimsical, and other-worldly, often made with found objects.

[7] Influences of African art traditions, armor, ceremonial dress, couture fashion, and designed textiles, as well as stereotypically feminine objects, are present in his work to express a multitude of concepts.

On September 14, the piece was taken to the streets in the form of a parade with the mission to spread joy through the South End and Upham's Corner neighborhoods in Boston.

Cave most often commissions fabrication from a shop in Skokie, Illinois, called "Iron and Wire" owned by David Greene.

[7] Soundsuits are sculptural costumes enveloping the wearer's body in materials including but not limited to dyed human hair, sisal, plastic buttons, beads, wire, sequins, and feathers.

Soundsuits camouflage the body, masking and creating a second skin that conceals race, gender, and class, forcing the viewer to look without judgment.

[15] As race, identity, and gender are generally accepted to form the axis of his work,[15] Cave's soundsuits can telegraph many concepts simultaneously.

[17] Cave collected a large number of sticks and twigs from the ground and fashioned them into a suit that, to his surprise, made sounds when worn.

[18][19] Bringing his interactive creations to life, "Cave regularly performs in the sculptures himself, dancing either before the public or for the camera, activating their full potential as costume, musical instrument, and living icon.

In 2021, Cave was commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York to create a permanent installation inspired by his soundsuits spanning the Times Square-42nd Street and 42nd Street-Bryant Park subway stations.

Writing about the installation in The New York Times before its completion in 2022, critic John Vincler described the figures in the work as "joyous" and said the piece "feels like a necessary correction, right at home amid the noise and teem" of the subway.

HEARD•NY was not a purely visual spectacle, but a layered commentary on ceremony (particularly, costumed West African ritual), identity, and the place of dreams in civic life.

[24] A herd of 30 colorful life-size horses broke into choreographed movement—or “crossings”— twice a day for just a week and was accompanied by live music.

The project was presented by Creative Time and MTA Arts for Transit as part of a series of events celebrating the centennial of Grand Central.

Cave's works outside of his soundsuits are predominantly mixed-media sculptures and large-scale installations[26] that use found objects and brightly colored fabrics.

He creates sculptural art that discusses current racial tensions, especially gun violence and its impact on Black men.

[28] After George Zimmerman was acquitted of Martin's murder on July 13, 2013[28] (hence the title "TM 13"), Cave created a powerful sculpture centering on a hoodie, denim pants, a Black mannequin, and sneakers.

[36][37][38] Fellow namesake Nick Cave, an Australian rock musician of the band Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, has spoken positively of the former's work, stating that he has "admired the work of the American artist [...] for many years", and drawing attention to its merits as "an attempt to transmute suffering into a kind of knowing and shielding joy".