Exhibition dates: 10 October 2026 – 5 September 2027

The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore will debut its 31st annual major themed exhibition, ‘Flaunt: When Appearance Speaks’, exploring the powerful ways we use clothing, adornment, portraiture, gesture, and personal style to declare who we are—or who we want the world to believe we are. The myriad of works in Flaunt begin at skin-level, revealing and exploring the intimate: How we choose to adorn ourselves, and what that adornment shows about our identities.

The exhibition will present 101 artworks in mediums ranging across drawing, portraiture, photography, fiber, wearable form, and sculpture, often using transformed everyday materials like buttons, pipe cleaners, and bark. Visitors will encounter brightly colored and patterned walls with intricately woven sweaters, fuzzy full-body suits, denim dripping with buttons, hats made of woven wood, and many other unexpected wearable objects.

Flaunt will blend the work of internationally-known artists—such as Erkki Pekkarinen, who created his famous “Forest Folk” suit from weaving birch wood (never before seen outside of Finland!), and Beau “The Button Man” McCall—with local artists such as Sam Barsky, who knits sweaters featuring famous places he has visited. For ‘Flaunt’, his first major museum feature, Montrel Beverly has created high fashion items such as a Louis Vuitton handbag and Rolex watch, using his signature medium: pipe cleaners. Other artists presented in Flaunt include: Lee Godie; HML; Lucy Walker; Shawn Payne; Helen Rae; Maria "Maima" and Satu Tani; and Eugene Von Bruenchenhein.

In developing the exhibition, AVAM Curator Gage Branda drew from the expertise of advisors Jennifer Lauren Gilbert of the Jennifer Lauren Gallery in Manchester, U.K, and Cleá Massioni, a Ph.D. candidate in Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland. Both advisors champion and advocate for neurodivergent, learning disabled, and self-taught artists.

In a twist on conventional thinking, Flaunt asks visitors not to go below the surface, but rather to examine how much feeling, invention, humor, protection, and self-authorship are right in front of our eyes. Guests can fulfill their desire to feel the texture of these artworks with touchable fabric swatches near many of the displays. The exhibition will also host a custom interactive photo booth selfie-station for visitors to style and experiment with their own self-image.

Opening Hours: Wednesday–Sunday, 10am–5pm
Access: This venue has a step-free entrance
Fees apply to visit – click here for more information.