Cecil Norris makes paintings and drawings that draw on the canon and popular culture to create a contemporary vision of race, masculinity, sexuality, and trauma through the act of portraiture. Norris’s paintings disrupt the tropes of classical portraiture through the juxtaposition of black culture. Examining the urban fabric, Norris aims to blur the lines of realism and abstraction to reveal something that has been lost from history and investigate the ambiguity and perplexity of black identity.
Cecil Norris was born in 1995 in Shelby, North Carolina, where he currently lives and works. Norris received a BoA from the School of Architecture at UNC at Charlotte. He is now an art teacher at Crest High School, where he hopes to cultivate a new age of artists.
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Solo Exhibitions
2022
“Chaos or…” - Cleveland County Arts Council, Shelby, NC.
“Chaos or…” - Brown Gallery, Duke University, Durham, NC.
2021
“UN·EXAMINED” - Jeanne Rauch Gallery, Gastonia, NC.
“UN·EXAMINED” - The Lost Dog Gallery, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Group Exhibitions
2023
Carolina Roots Exhibition- Raleigh, NC.
Annual Juried Competition - Artist Collective Spartanburg, Spartanburg, SC.
Cleveland County Artist Competition - Cleveland County Arts Council, Shelby, NC.
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2022
Shut In - Gaston Museum, Dallas, NC.
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2021
DAG 67th Annual Juried Exhibition - Durham Art Guild, Durham, NC.
Annual Juried Competition - Artist Collective Spartanburg, Spartanburg, SC.
Printed - Cleveland County Arts Council, Shelby, NC.
Figurative Show- 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC.
Variance- online exhibition, I like your work podcast.
Student Art Exhibition- Gaston College, Gastonia, NC.
Student Art Exhibition- Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, NC.
Head and Sentiment: Dreams of an Artist - Milostka Exhibition Center
Cleveland County Artist Competition - Cleveland County Arts Council, Shelby, NC.
“#NotASterotype” - The London House Center, Athens, Georgia.
“Virtual Show” - Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.
“I Am Woman” - Southern Art Society, Kings Mountain, NC.
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2020
“I Am Woman” - Southern Art Society, Kings Mountain, NC.
Cleveland County Artist Competition - Cleveland County Arts Council, Shelby, NC.
“Perspectives” - Cleveland County Arts Council, Shelby, NC.
“The McColl Center Benefit Art Sale” - The McColl Center, Charlotte, NC.
2019
Cleveland County Artist Competition - Cleveland County Arts Council, Shelby, NC.
Awards
2021
Third Place- “Annual Juried Competition,” Artist Collective Spartanburg
Second Place- “Student Art Exhibition,” Gaston College
First Place- “I Am Woman,” Southern Art Society
2020
First Place- “I Am Woman,” Southern Art Society
Honorable Mention - Cleveland County Arts Council
Selected for Black Art Rising Competition - LIFE WTR
2019
Honorable Mention- Gaston Community College
Commissions
2021
Public Art Commission, Mural, 10 x 40ft, Cleveland County Arts Council
2020
Public Art Commission, Mural, 10 x 20ft, Arise
Public Art Commission, Mural, 5 x 10ft, Shelby Intermediate School
2019
Public Art Commission, Mural, 10 x 30ft, Lifting Lab
Representation
2021
Horn, Pack, Brown & Dow Gallery, Shelby, NC.