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Celebrity/Famous Figure of the Month: Matt Sesow

About Matt
Born in 1966, Matt Sesow was raised in rural Nebraska while enjoying a normal childhood. On a summer evening when he was eight at an airfield near his home, he was struck by the propeller of a landing airplane. The accident resulted in his left arm being severed and the loss of his left hand. Through the support of his family, Matt’s physical disability was minimized as he was encouraged to participate in a variety of academic and organized sporting events. Eventually he attended and graduated from University with a degree in Computer Information Systems and a professional career with IBM as a software tester.
Without formal art education, Matt Sesow discovered painting as a hobby while working at IBM. In the evenings and on weekends he played with painting and began selling his work to Self-Taught and Outsider art collectors in 1995. Throughout the 1990’s he continued to paint and participate in art exhibitions while working full-time at variety of computer firms including AOL and Netscape. Returning from a stint with the Peace Corps (Solomon Islands) in 1999, Matt began to focus on his love of painting and developing a path to create art full-time.
In 2001, after establishing himself within the art community as a powerfully diverse and independent painter, Matt Sesow retired from his computer career to pursue his art full-time. With the ability to focus entirely on his painting, Sesow exhibited and traveled across the United States while also securing new collectors internationally including exhibitions in Spain, France, and Slovenia.
Currently living and painting in Washington, DC, Matt continues to be an independent artist who makes a living by selling his work directly to fans and from a variety of galleries and exhibitions world-wide.
Check out his Movie Join Hands: The Life & Art of Matt Sesow
Achievements & Major Events
2017 – Selected for three week artist residency with the The Squire Foundation ; Santa Barbara, CA
2017 – Twenty six paintings selected for permanent collection at the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore
2015 – Painting released on UN stamp, press release at http://stamp.sesow.com
2015 – Documentary, “Join Hands” about the life and paintings of Matt Sesow
2013 – Selected by the UN (United Nations) to be featured in their postal stamp program as a disabled artist.
2009 – Represented the United States at the 42nd annual meeting of naive artists in Slovenia
2008 – “Bukowski Undigested” book illustrated by Matt Sesow
Exhibitions
2017 – Solo exhibition at Silo 118 Gallery; Santa Barbara, CA
2017 – Solo at Jeanine Taylor Folk Art Gallery (Sanford, Florida)
2017 – Two-person show at Gallery 50 (Rehoboth, DE)
2017 – Solo Exhibition (continues), “Matt Sesow: Shock and Awe” at the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore
2016 – Solo Exhibition, “Matt Sesow: Shock and Awe” at the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore (thru Spring 2017)
2016 – Solo Exhibition in Vancouver, Canada with Gallery 1515
2016 – Solo Exhibition at Access Gallery in Denver, Colorado
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