Exhibition 2005
Solo Exhibition and stage commission
Solo Exhibition and stage commission — "Cheap Theatrix," Phoenix, AZ (April). Sesow's 8×9-foot painting "Collateral Damage (Living Hell)" served as set design and backdrop while ten separate plays were written and performed around it, alongside a solo gallery show of his work
Pictures · click to enlarge
In their words
The idea was a family caught in some bombing campaign.
From the press archive
Saved web pages and links
- Chris Page, “Playwrights explore politics through painting, acting” (2005) — saved copy (PDF) · from the Peace Corps Online reprint of April 2, 2005
- The reprint at Peace Corps Online · found by Grok, October 2026
Research notes
- Phoenix playwright and director Raymond Shurtz staged ten plays, each ten minutes long, written in response to the painting. Shurtz paid for materials and for Sesow’s flight to opening night; the painting was to be offered for $2,000 after the run.
- The article says the accident cost him an arm. The documented record: his left arm was reattached, and his dominant left hand was later amputated.
Where this record comes from
- history.sesow.com (live, 2026-10-03)
Cite as: Sesow, Matt. “Solo Exhibition and stage commission.” Matt Sesow Career Chronicle, 2005. history.sesow.com/e/2005-stage-commission-cheap-theatrix-phoenix.html. Accessed [date].
Were you there? Do you have a photo, a clipping or a memory of this? Please write to sesow@sesow.com or use Ask Matt a question, and it will be added here.
Also in 2005
- Milestone Painting “Newborn” — 2004 later entered the permanent collection of the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries…
- Exhibition Museum of the Southwest, South Wing Galleries, Midland, TX
- Exhibition Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX
- Press Washington Post — listing for a group show at MOCA DC / A+M Galleries, Georgetown, with Andrew Wodzianski…
- Exhibition “Carrots and Sticks,” Rebus Works, Raleigh, NC
- Exhibition “Looking Back, Sprint Forward,” Gallery Co., Minneapolis, MN
- Exhibition Hunter Hogan Gallery at The Barry Robinson Theater, 4552 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach, VA
- Exhibition “Eye of the Storm,” Studio One Eight, Washington, DC
- Exhibition Guillotine Gallery, Atlanta, GA
- Exhibition “Off the Beaten Path: The 2nd Annual Exhibition of New Talent and Old Masters,” Ramscale Gallery, 463 West…
- Exhibition “Face Dances,” Hurn Museum — traveling exhibition; painting in Hurn Museum collection
- Exhibition Cover of LeftTurn Magazine — November
- Exhibition International Art Singulier festival, Roquevaire, France
- Exhibition “Hell Bound” — “Hellbound III” and “Bunny Collector” touring in “Revelations and Reflections of American…
- Award Won Best Experimental Theater
- Press Ron Taylor, Demon Beach Records
- Press Allison Hersh, Savannah Morning News
- Press Jim Magner, Capitol Hill Rag Magazine
- Milestone Painted in Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Exhibition Museum of Contemporary Art DC, “What’s So Terrible About Being Beautiful?”
- Exhibition Two-Person Show — with Dana Ellyn
- Exhibition “On The Wall” — Portland, OR, shoe painting to benefit Skatepark
- Exhibition Alcove Gallery, Atlanta, GA — “Date Night” and “Fruit Bowl” group shows
- Press Hartford Courant — interview on outsider art
- Media Exit Clov CD cover — painting on CD cover by DC band Exit Clov
- Exhibition “Husker Du? — Do You Remember?,” Folsom Gallery, University Place Art Center, Lincoln, Nebraska
- Exhibition Aroma, Cleveland Park, Washington, DC
- Exhibition “Downtown Girl, Uptown Boy” — D.C. Public Library, 2005
- Press “Rival Revival” — Washington City Paper, July 14, 2005
- Exhibition “Learning to Crawl” — Inside/Outside Art Gallery, Cleveland, 2005