The Larz from Mars Show — Matt Sesow, July 2003

Full text

Machine transcription of the excerpt soundtrack (OpenAI Whisper, October 12, 2026), lightly corrected for names; timecodes are minutes:seconds into the excerpt. Check against the video before quoting.

ON-SCREEN TEXT
Title card: portions of interview from Washington, DC TV show "Larz from Mars", taped July 20, 2003
Lower thirds: "Matt Sesow — Painter" · "www.sesow.com" · "Larz from Mars — Host"

TRANSCRIPT
[0:00–1:53] Opening: the show's title card and a live band (lyrics not transcribed).

[1:53] And we're back — we're back with [Matt Sesow]. So, Matt, [how] are you? I'm fine, thank you. And your associate is here as well? Yes, this is my associate. Yes, the associate. And of course you're here tonight to talk about your artwork. Yes, that's why you called me. Yes. So we'll look at a few of my work, my paintings. What about this next painting? Oh, this is one I was just in Costa Rica.

[2:39] I entered a contest and I won. All right, I didn't win. I was like a co-winner with another painter and we both were able to go stay in Costa Rica for a month during June. So this is one of, I think I did around 250 paintings in Costa Rica, and this one I did, this is using auto paint and some local materials. So the day I did this one. Auto paint with car paint. Yeah, because there was an auto paint store very close to where I was staying, so. I thought it was a program, I thought we were talking software for a day. No, no, no, no, no, no, software. But so I did a lot of work with auto paint and some very toxic materials, And this was one day where I actually had to step out of my studio and get fresh air because it was very toxic.

[3:26] But I have a lot of these. And they're going to be showing at a show down in Capitol Hill on July 31st is the opening. Yes, you have shows coming up. Yeah. The big one, July 31st. Yeah, it's down at Results Gym on Capitol Hill. I think it's like 3rd and G Street Southeast, something like that. You can check out my website. The website has all the information. S-E-S-O-W, Sesow.com. I don't know your name. You probably have a graphic. There it is, I see it. Sesow.com. But anyways, but that's not what matters. What matters is that you come to the show and help support some other local artists. There's going to be about seven of us DC artists that are going to be displaying works.

[4:09] It's called the very, I think it's called the Really Big Show, and it's going to be very large paintings that are going to be on display. So I have a nine foot by five foot canvas oil painting that I did in Costa Rica on the floor. So how long does that usually take to do something that large compared to something this size? The large one took a month. I worked all month on it. In a sense of what I'm sorry, when you say a month, is that like a steady, straight eight, nine hour day? Or is it just, how does that work? No, it's pretty much, I started it waking up in the middle of the night and start sketching it out and drying it. It's more of like a moment piece. It's something that I do when I feel that. Is that how it is with all your artwork?

[4:51] You just like at any moment, you could just get inspired. Yeah, definitely. You're like right on. I guess that's with any artist. Yeah, definitely. Every painting is just the moment. I mean, this thing probably took me, I don't know, 40 minutes or whatever. So it was very quick. So this one. I like the way you left the border stark white. Thank you. It really stands out. The face is there. I see what you mean by teeth, it seems like. Yeah. That's really, I think that's cool though, because it's going to, you know, later in life you could tell by looking at all that [unclear] painting because there's something in it. The teeth. That's the teeth. Yeah, and teeth are important. They are. Yeah. Good job. They vary. Man, speaking of inspiration, I have to know were you influenced by the toxic materials? Yeah, I mean, I'm influenced right now by toxic materials.

[5:39] You know, I mean, I've... Well, I wouldn't be on this show myself. Yeah, I mean, I've, no, but, but, but, um, I'm sure, well, not probably with these though. I mean, I don't, I don't really necessarily think that the turpentine or the, the auto paint, you know, causes me to paint a certain way. I think it's, I, you know. You never know. No, I mean, I, I paint this way, I paint this way when I'm, you know, sitting out with friends and, you know, just chatting. Maybe try absinthe or something, you know, lightweight and legal. I don't even know what that is. We'll tell you about it. Okay. Here's the next one. Although there's a great website, absinthe.com. Okay. Okay. So this is one I did. This is a, my assistant is holding.

[6:22] It's called, what's it called? “Solomoner with Bluefin Tuna” [title as heard]. I was in the Peace Corps and I was in the Solomon Islands. And so this is a painting that reflects a moment when I was taking a boat to buy some beer. Buy some beer. It took like six hours to get to this nearest village on the open water. It wasn't just to buy beer, but it was also to call my parents and say hello. Sure. I'm sure. But so anyways, there were flying fish. And this is the flying fish. It's called with flying fish. And there were these flying fish flying over the canoe all the way to this little town called Kirakira in the Solomon Islands. And so this is one of the people that caught a bluefish tuna. And there's a flying fish coming over.

[7:03] So anyway, so it's just one of my experiences. So basically, that's what I do. I mean, I paint things that happen to me. So it's that one. I don't know. It's nice. Thank you. Obviously, you are truly gifted as an artist because you need to express yourself. Thank you. Exactly. Yeah, I really would worry what I would be like if I didn't paint. What do you call this artwork right here? Oh, this is just leftover from today's work. But anyway, so this is just normal. This is normal. Yeah, it's, yeah, people, you know, tattoos. I mean, I could, you know, whatever. I'll show you. But I normally paint without my shirt on. Well, that's cool, man.

[7:46] Like all sexy, you know. Well, why don't you wish you'd have came in with cameras? This video's going to be live. Well, you could. But my assistant wouldn't allow that. OK, so this, this, I don't know what that means. This is a painting I did in Costa Rica. It's called Waiting for Ants. So basically, when I first got to, basically, I said a lot. When I got to Costa Rica, I realized that there was a lot of death. A lot of, I mean, there's a lot of life, of course. Everything's green, the butterflies are beautiful, everything's very lovely. But there's also a lot of death. Like spiders fighting butterflies. They have to keep it in from there. Oh, it's awesome. Like moths getting devoured. It's amazing. The jungle is, it's about life, but it's also about death.

[8:30] So this is called Waiting for Ants. So it's just about a person, like an older person, waiting for the ants to come and just devour them. You know, like we're in our tomb, we're just like, I'm just waiting for the ants. So if I'm conscious, well I'm waiting, you know, like that's what it's about. It's called Waiting for Ants. Wow. I'm waiting for the worms myself. Yeah, that's the next one. As I say, we're all just passing time on our way to the morgue. Okay, so keeping with things. The spirit of? I believe this one's called 12 Fluid Ounces of Compassion. So this is just about people who, only 12? Yeah, not the 40s. So not a 4-0.

[9:13] It's just a meter, I mean. So this is just a drunk painting, basically. You were drunk when you did it? No. But it's just about people being drunk and saying things. I hope they don't mean it. Getting on cable access, making fools of themselves. Right, exactly. Wearing funny t-shirts. And there you have it. So how, is that it? I think that's it. You want to say more? You got something to say to me? No. Okay. Well, that's good. Congratulations. We're out of time. Do you have a question? Final point. Well, one quick question. It's like, I guess you can purchase any of these at any time. Is that what you're – are you selling all of them? Yeah, I'll find a website. This is how I make my living, is selling paintings. So, again, off your website, you could go there. And if you – do you have pictures that – literally pictures of the picture on the website that you can purchase?

[9:59] Yeah, they're all on the website and hopefully when people look at my art they see that it's a lot, you know, I try to keep things low priced so that people can afford it. So basically anyone can afford a painting of mine. If you email me and say you like a painting, you're going to get a painting. It's not about, you know, so. It's about the art. It's about the art. I'd like people to have these paintings, so. Because I have a lot, a lot of these. Great. Well, thank you for coming down. Thanks Larz. And thank you for your associate. Yes, my associate says thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A great session.

[10:40] Yes.

Speakers are not labeled: host Larz LaComa and Matt Sesow (with his "associate," who holds up the paintings, and others on the couch).