Find News from VisitNC and Destinations

RALEIGH, N.C. — This fall, the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) hosts the first solo museum exhibition of the visual art of Scott Avett, founding member of the Grammy-nominated Avett Brothers band. Open October 12, 2019, through February 2, 2020, Scott Avett: I N V I S I B L E will include large-scale portraits, prints, and paintings.

Until now Avett’s work with The Avett Brothers has taken center stage. The NCMA exhibition shines a light on his art making, thereby demonstrating the richness and diversity of his practice.

“I’m not anything first—not painter, musician, writer, printmaker, performer—before I am an artist,” said Avett, who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from East Carolina University and lives in Concord, N.C. “I’m always thinking in visual terms. Even when I’m writing, I’m thinking visually, and I feel like everything trickles down from that. This body of work was made over a 20-year span. These are snapshots from my life as it moves and changes, all from the view of my conscience.”  

Scott Avett: I N V I S I B L E features psychologically charged and emotionally intense portraits focused on his family and himself—often intimate, vulnerable, and sometimes uncomfortably truthful portrayals. “Scott Avett has been a highly accomplished working artist for as long as he has been a musician, but until now, he has kept the art making part of his life more private, almost as a refuge from his life as a performer,” said Linda Dougherty, chief curator and curator of contemporary art. “Sentimental, nostalgic, and deeply real—like his song lyrics—his paintings resonate with human emotion and forge powerful and personal connections between Avett’s work and the viewer/listener.”

Museum Director Valerie Hillings notes, “This show reflects the NCMA’s commitment to highlighting the multidisciplinary nature of contemporary art practice and to inviting consideration of individual and societal themes and issues that are raised by artists including Avett. Like his songs, Avett’s paintings, portraits of his family and himself, speak to universal issues of spirituality, struggle, and transformation, as well as more personal stories of career, family, and southern life.” 

A catalogue, created by storied art publisher Bob Chase of Chase Art, will accompany the exhibition and feature a retrospective of Avett’s work from 2008 to 2018, alongside never-before-seen pages from his sketchbooks and essays and interviews about his work. Exclusive merchandise, including deluxe editions of the catalogue with a vinyl LP record and limited-edition prints, will be available at the Museum Store, select art gallery partners, and online.

The exhibition kicks off with a Friday, October 11, party in the galleries featuring cocktails, music, and an exclusive preview of the exhibition.

More information about the Museum and the exhibition is available online. Exhibition tickets and related event tickets go on sale for Museum members September 3 and nonmembers September 17 at ncartmuseum.org. 

About the Exhibition:
Organized by the North Carolina Museum of Art. This exhibition is made possible, in part, by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; the North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, Inc.; and the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment for Educational Exhibitions. Research for this exhibition was made possible by Ann and Jim Goodnight/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fund for Curatorial and Conservation Research and Travel.

About the North Carolina Museum of Art:
The North Carolina Museum of Art’s permanent collection spans more than 5,000 years, from ancient Egypt to the present, making the institution one of the premier art museums in the South. The Museum’s collection provides educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond. The 164-acre Museum Park showcases the connection between art and nature through site-specific works of environmental art. The Museum offers changing national touring exhibitions, classes, lectures, family activities, films, and concerts.
 
The Museum opened West Building, home to the permanent collection, in 2010. The North Carolina Museum of Art, Valerie Hillings, director, is located at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. It is the art museum of the State of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, governor, and an agency of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Susi Hamilton, secretary. ncartmuseum.org

###

CONTACT:

Kat Harding
(919) 664-6795
kharding@ncartmuseum.org