Matt Sesow began creating art in 1993 as a reaction to being hit by an airplane that amputated his dominant hand when he was a child. For the past 20 years, Sesow has used a variety of little icons in his paintings to help tell the story of his trauma and lifetime successes. Icons such as bunnies, birds, teacups, and teeth surrounded by bright red lips all help to tell the ongoing stories from the mind and experiences of Matt Sesow. Sesow has exhibited in galleries around the world and is part of the inventory of several outsider and naive art collectors.
THE EMOTION © by Matt Sesow
When people try to describe my paintings, they oftentimes use words like ‘raw’, ‘angry’, ‘energetic’, or ‘expressive’. OK, but here’s what they really are: ‘A failure’. I don’t feel that any painting I’ve done has ever been successful. I’ve just started, and I’m not good enough to tackle what I want to express yet. I have a secret list of paintings that I will attempt when I feel I’m ready. For now, I take the bus down to the National Gallery of Art, or the Hishhorn museum here in Washington, DC to see my heroes like DeKooning, Bacon, VanGogh, the very old Dutch and German religious work, Pollock, or occasionally Basquiat is in town… that’s who I want to hang with. I will be as good as or better than they are someday…. but it’s too early for that. Give me a few more years please.
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