063FAMILIAL CONNECTIONSJudd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio produced and
directed a film, May It Last: A Portrait of the Avett
Brothers, for HBO. It reveals how the brothers create
their songs and pull it all together for an album or a
performance. It also reveals the close, nurturing rela-
tionship of family from the sermons of his minister
grandfather who baptized him but who died the same
year, through his parents and siblings to his wife and
their three children—as well as the members of the
band. The sense of belonging that can ameliorate
struggles finds its way into Scott’s paintings.
“I get ideas and sometimes put them away for
later,” Scott says. “I have thousands of fragments;
some of them are great ideas. They have their own
little beauty. I think of them as completed little works.
Judd Apatow told me ‘Ideas are a dime a dozen.’ You
have to put the work into it. There’s liberation in
commitment,” he continues. “Even in marriage.”
Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now, wrote that
“future is a thought in your head. Beyond that, there’s
no such thing as future.”
When I ask, “What next?”, Scott muses, “I’ll focus on
music and do only that for a while. I’m feeling the next
painting might be an object. My son likes fishing and
lures. We saw some recently with mirrors. I couldn’t
help but see them in a collage.”SCOTT AVETT: INVISIBLE
When: Through February 2, 2020
Where: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC 27607
Information: (919) 839-6262, http://www.ncartmuseum.org8