Matt Sesow Washington, DC Artist

Original Art You Can Actually Afford

Matt Sesow has been a full-time Washington DC artist since 2001, painting out of a small studio in the District nearly every single day. He is self-taught, he sells his own work, and he answers his own email.

He lost his left hand at the age of eight, struck by the propeller of a landing airplane in rural Nebraska in 1975. He started painting at 28 as a way to work through it, and never stopped. The trauma scars, the one-winged phoenixes, the guardian angels and bunnies that recur across his canvases are the private language he built to say what he couldn't say out loud.

Before the paintings there were films. He made short films in the early 1990s — "Seize the Day" was shown at the WPA group exhibition and selected by the DC Psychtronic Film Society, and "The Box" won a Best Experimental Film award. In 1996 he lectured at Georgetown University on painting and film.

More than 17,000 original Sesow paintings now hang in homes in over 40 countries — very likely more individual households than any other living painter. Almost none of those buyers were investors or institutions. They were people who saw something they loved, emailed the artist, and could afford it. Keeping it that way has been the entire point since 1994.

Explore the Work

In a Museum Collection26 paintings in the permanent collection of the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore.

Shown with Basquiat"Life and Limb," 2021 — exhibited alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat at ODU, Norfolk.

Best PaintingsA curated look at the most important works of the last thirty years.

The UN Stamp"Dive Bomb" released internationally on a United Nations postage stamp.

The Documentary"Join Hands: The Art and Life of Matt Sesow" — the full feature film.

BiographyNebraska to IBM to the Peace Corps to painting full-time in DC.

PrintsThe most accessible way to start — signed prints of favorite paintings.

Small OriginalsSmall-format original paintings — real art, entry-level prices.

In Museum Collections

Sesow paintings are held in the permanent collections of museums in the United States and Europe — alongside the artists who defined American self-taught art.

• American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore MD — 26 paintings, acquired following his 2016–17 year-long solo exhibition
• Baron & Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA — "Newborn" (2004), gift of Baron and Ellin Gordon. Held in the same self-taught collection as Thornton Dial, Howard Finster, James Castle, Purvis Young and Bessie Harvey
• Muscarelle Museum of Art, William & Mary, Williamsburg VA — exhibited in "Spark of Imagination: The Spectrum of Creativity," 2022
• Gallery of Naïve Artists (Galerija likovnih samorastnikov), Trebnje, Slovenia — held since 2009, re-exhibited 2023
• Hurn Museum of Contemporary Folk Art, Savannah GA — exhibited in "The Faces of Folk," 2006
• The Jacquin Collection of Outsider Art — exhibited in "Witness to the Vision," Peoria Riverfront Museum IL, 2015

Museum Exhibitions

• 2018–19 — MISP Museum of St. Petersburg Art, Russia — "Radical Fluidity: Grotesque in Art"
• 2016–17 — American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore — "Shock and Awe," year-long solo
• 2014 — Museo e Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, Italy (with catalogue)
• 2011 — Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk VA — "Into the Mainstream: Self-Taught Artists from the Garbisch and Gordon Collections"
• 2008 — Baron & Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, ODU — "Collective Wisdom"
• 2001 — Corcoran Museum, Washington DC — "Life's Little Traumas," solo

National Museum Tour, 2002–2005

Two paintings — "Hell Bound" and "Bunny Collector" — travelled the United States for three years in "Revelations and Reflections of American Self-Taught Artists," an ExhibitsUSA touring museum exhibition. Eleven venues in eleven states. See the paintings and press →

• 2002 — The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock AR (Sept–Oct)
• 2002–03 — Stedman Art Gallery, Rutgers, Camden NJ (Nov–Jan)
• 2003 — Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth OH (Jan–Mar)
• 2003 — Mandeville Gallery, Nott Memorial, Union College, Schenectady NY (Jun–Aug)
• 2003 — UNLV Barrick Museum, Las Vegas NV (Sept–Oct)
• 2004 — Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls MT (Feb–Mar)
• 2004 — Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury VT (Apr–Aug)
• 2004 — Hearst Art Gallery, Saint Mary's College, Moraga CA (Sept–Oct)
• 2004–05 — Loveland Museum and Gallery, Loveland CO (Nov–Jan)
• 2005 — Museum of the Southwest, Midland TX (Apr–May)
• 2005 — Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont TX (Jun–Aug)

Selected Gallery Exhibitions

United States

• 2021 — Solo, "Life and Limb," Baron & Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA (exhibited alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat)
• 2019 — "Collaborators: Dana Ellyn & Matt Sesow," Hill Center Galleries, Washington DC
• 2017 — Solo, "Deja Vu," Hill Center Galleries, Washington DC
• 2017 — Solo, Silo118 Gallery, Santa Barbara CA (with a three-week Squire Foundation residency — 200+ paintings)
• 2017 — Solo, "Hair of the Dog," Jeanine Taylor Folk Art Gallery, Sanford FL
• 2016–17 — Year-long solo, "Shock and Awe," American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore MD — 26 paintings entered the museum's permanent collection
• 2016 — Solo, "Divide and Conquer / Rise Above," VSA Colorado Access Gallery, Denver CO
• 2015 — "Dive Bomb" released on a United Nations postage stamp
• 2015 — Solo, AMP: Art Market Provincetown, MA
• 2014 — Solo, "Access Denied," VSA Colorado Access Gallery, Denver CO
• 2014 — Solo, AMP Gallery, Provincetown MA
• 2013 — Solo, "Beautiful People," Waverley Street Gallery, Bethesda MD
• 2012 — Solo, "Trickle Down," Access Gallery, Denver CO (85 paintings)
• 2012 — Solo, "Birdhouses," BVP Gallery, Washington DC
• 2011 — Solo, "A Brut Rebellion," FOE Gallery, Northampton MA
• 2011 — Solo, JP Art Market, Boston MA (first Boston solo)
• 2010 — Solo, "Pet Project," VSA Access Gallery, Denver CO (nominated Best Show, Denver Art District)
• 2010 — Solo, Black Rock Gallery, Bridgeport CT
• 2009 — Solo, Mayer Fine Art, Norfolk VA
• 2008 — Baron & Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University
• 2003 — "Best Artist," Adams Morgan Festival, Washington DC
• 2001 — Solo, "Life's Little Traumas," Corcoran Museum, Washington DC
• 2002–05 — "Revelations and Reflections of American Self-Taught Artists," touring 10 states
• 1998 — Solo, San Jose Art League, San Jose CA

Five separate solo exhibitions at Access Gallery in Denver alone, between 2010 and 2016.

International

• Portugal 2025– — Represented by Chamazinha gallery, Figueira da Foz
• Slovenia 2023 — Exhibition of works held in the permanent collection of the Gallery of Naïve Artists, Trebnje
• Russia 2018–19 — "Radical Fluidity: Grotesque in Art," MISP Museum, St. Petersburg
• France 2017 — Galerie Une Vision Singulière, Lamballe
• Canada 2016 — Solo, "Politicized," Gallery 1515, Vancouver (first Canadian solo)
• Spain 2015 — Solo, Artevistas Gallery, Barcelona
• Italy 2014 — Museum exhibition, Museo e Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna (with catalogue)
• Australia 2014 — Solo, "All American Boy," 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace, Gold Coast
• France 2014 — Solo, Gallery 555, Cruseilles
• Spain 2013 — Solo, "Icons," Galleria Artevistas, Barcelona
• France 2011 — Solo, Galleria Saint-Pierre, Limoges
• Jordan 2010–11 — "A Shout Out From My City," Foresight Gallery, Amman
• Spain 2010 — Solo, "Balance of Power," Galeria Artevistas, Barcelona
• France 2010 — Solo, "Sesow in Albi," Galleria Artevistas (100+ paintings)
• Slovenia 2009 — First American representative, 42nd International Meeting of Naïve Artists, Trebnje; work selected for the gallery's permanent collection
• Spain 2009 — Solo, "Sesow in Barcelona," Galleria Artevistas
• China 1998 — Painted in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore
• Solomon Islands 1998–99 — Painted while serving in the Peace Corps

Work held in two museum permanent collections — the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, and the Gallery of Naïve Artists in Trebnje, Slovenia.

What Critics Have Written

"Sesow may very well be the most important artist working today. His paintings are explosions of color. Punk rock energy paired with the symbolism of alienation dressed in the finery of a rainbow."

— Ron Taylor, Demon Beach Records, 2005

"Sesow's nightmarish portraits possess a voracious brutality that hits the eyes like sand, but embed in the heart with unexpected wonder."

— Timothy Cahill, Albany Times Union, 2004

"Sesow flash-freezes the shock of events through his raw figures' facial expressions and body language. Bright colors and large, animated forms both hulking and diminutive render even primal scream scenes approachable; the Matt-osphere is tumultuous, but not forbidding."

— Robin Tierney, The Washington Examiner, 2008

"Through his art, Sesow worked through the emotional knots created by his childhood accident… Sesow's paintings communicate the emotional power of his healing."

— Cate Hescox, Reuters News, 2004

"Matt Sesow's 'Father of the Bride' threatens to steal the show with its irrepressible expressionistic angst… defined by the remarkable violence of its brush strokes."

— Allison Hersh, Savannah Morning News, 2005

"Matt Sesow, whose 'Bunny Collector' could hold its own with Grosz, and whose 'Hellbound III' posits a universe where Francis Bacon and Edvard Munch are the same."

— Las Vegas Mercury, 2003

"The essential appeal of the outsider spirit in art is robustly exemplified by the compelling impact of a Matt Sesow painting. His finest works tend to gather themselves to lunge at you and take root in unguarded channels of emotion."

— New Art International, Book Art Press, 2003

"Brace yourself… To encounter Matt Sesow's paintings is to enter a maelstrom. Undiluted primary colors fly off the wall, blinding, dazzling."

— Laura Parsons, The Hook, Charlottesville VA, 2004

"Matt Sesow… is a master of angular lines and jarring color."

— J. Bowers, Baltimore City Paper, 2004

"Every stroke is like a cannonball hitting the canvas."

— Chris Warner, Alcove Gallery, Atlanta Magazine, 2004

Questions Collectors Ask

Archive

Thirty Years of Milestones

Since 1993 — museums, a United Nations stamp, a documentary, a residency, and seventeen thousand paintings.

• 2021Survey exhibition “Life and Limb” at Old Dominion University, shown alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat
• 2018–19Four paintings at the MISP Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
• 201726 paintings selected for the permanent collection of the American Visionary Art Museum
• 2017Three-week Squire Foundation residency, Santa Barbara — over 200 paintings in twenty-one days
• 2016–17Year-long solo “Shock and Awe” at the American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore
• 2015Washington Post feature on his work
• 2015“Dive Bomb” released internationally on a United Nations postage stamp
• 2015Documentary “Join Hands: The Art and Life of Matt Sesow” released
• 2014Museum exhibition with catalogue, Bologna, Italy
• 2011Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk — “Into the Mainstream”
• 2009First American representative at the 42nd International Meeting of Naïve Artists, Slovenia
• 2008“Bukowski Undigested” — Linda King’s poetry, illustrated by Sesow
• 2006Painted live on stage during Don Giovanni at the Raleigh opera house
• 2005“Collateral Damage”, Phoenix — ten plays written in response to a single Sesow painting. Won Best Experimental Theater
• 2003“Best Artist”, 25th Adams Morgan Festival. Began “31 Days in July”, which ran ten years
• 2003Painted the set for the Hollywood play “F**king Wasps”. Juried into an artist residency in Costa Rica
• 2002Lived and painted for a month in Sofia, Bulgaria
• 2001Left software for good. First solo museum show, Corcoran Museum, Washington DC — 45 works
• 1998–99Peace Corps volunteer in the Solomon Islands; painted throughout
• 1996Short film “The Box” wins a Best Experimental Film award. Lectured at Georgetown University on painting and film
• 1995Sold fourteen paintings in one afternoon on the streets of Georgetown. Among the first artists anywhere to sell paintings online
• 1993Began painting in oils. Completed his first short film, “Seize the Day”