It’s true that I have a lot of types of feelings about The Avett Brothers, the North Carolina folk band (until Rick Rubin got ahold of them, anyway) that amassed a global following and Grammy nominations from a rural haven in Concord. A couple of years ago, I aired out said feelings in a review of the documentary May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett Brothers, from which I came away with a new appreciation of the brothers’ talent and humility.
It’s been three years since the subject of that documentary, the album True Sadness, was released. But now, there’s new Avett Brothers on the horizon—well, an Avett brother—as we await a release date for the group’s promised 2019 album, which has been trickling out a single at a time.
The North Carolina Museum of Art just announced that, starting this fall, it will present singer and banjoist Scott Avett’s first solo exhibition of paintings and prints, with arty title spacing and everything (it’s called I N V I S I B L E). From October 12, 2019 to February 2, 2020, the exhibit will feature Avett’s large-scale oil portraits and prints depicting his own family life in ways the museum says are “psychologically charged and emotionally intense.”
It’s true that it’s hard not to arch an eyebrow at someone getting a solo museum exhibit, something many artists work for decades to get, seemingly on the strength of their music fame. But unlike, oh, say, Billy Corgan’s poetry, Avett’s painting actually looks really good, and he’s been making this work for two decades, after earning a bachelor’s degree in art at East Carolina University. It could strike a winning balance between popular appeal and artistic quality, and we’re eager to see it.
Tickets to the exhibit and related events, such as the exclusive preview party on Friday, October 11, go on sale September 3 for museum members and September 17 for the general public; see NCMA’s website for more details.
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