“Collective Wisdom” — Grand Opening, Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion University, Norfolk…

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Text taken from the saved copy (where a page was only an image, it was machine-read and may contain errors — check against the page image before quoting). Copyright remains with the original publisher; kept for the historical record.

Archived copy for research · saved for the Matt Sesow Career Chronicle, history.sesow.com, October 11, 2026
Title: Sesow's searing art exhibited for all the world to see
Publisher: Daily Press, Newport News, VA (Mark St. John Erickson), as reprinted by Peace Corps Online
Date: October 19, 2008
Original URL: https://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/3211491.html
Why it matters: Profile on the occasion of his work at the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, Old Dominion
University, 2008.
Copyright remains with the original publisher. Reproduced for reference and scholarship; contact sesow@sesow.com
with any request.

2008.10.19: October 19, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Solomon Islands: Art: Painting: Disabilities: Daily
Press: Sesow's searing art exhibited for all the world to see
Peace Corps Online: Directory: Solomon Islands: Special Report: Artist and Solomon Islands RPCV Matt
Sesow: 2008.10.19: October 19, 2008: Headlines: Figures: COS - Solomon Islands: Art: Painting: Disabilities:
Daily Press: Sesow's searing art exhibited for all the world to see
By Admin1 (admin) (75.41.169.164) on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - 2:35 pm: Edit Post
Sesow's searing art exhibited for all the world to see

Matt Sesow was just 8 years old when he learned about the cruelty of chance and the pain of being permanently
disfigured. Playing in a field near his Nebraska home, he was struck by the propeller of a small plane attempting to
land at an adjacent airstrip. Though doctors succeeded in re-attaching his severed left arm, he ultimately lost his left
— and dominant — hand. Nearly two decades passed before Sesow — then a software engineer based in
Washington, D.C. — began sifting through this traumatic experience by taking up painting. Two more years went
by before the self-taught artist displayed his labors in public for the first time, selling 14 works on the sidewalks of
Georgetown. Sesow started painting full-time in 2000, producing images of such biting, frantic, slashing impact that
they led to exhibits at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in D.C. and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore.
He also struck a chord with such influential contemporary folk art collectors as Baron and Ellin Gordon of
Williamsburg. Artist Matt Sesow served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Solomon Islands.
Sesow's searing art exhibited for all the world to see
Sesow's searing art exhibited for all the world to see
Mark St. John Erickson | At a Glance
October 19, 2008
Caption: Mefloquin by Matt Sesow.
[Excerpt]
Matt Sesow was just 8 years old when he learned about the cruelty of chance and the pain of being permanently
disfigured.
Playing in a field near his Nebraska home, he was struck by the propeller of a small plane attempting to land at an
adjacent airstrip. Though doctors succeeded in re-attaching his severed left arm, he ultimately lost his left — and
dominant — hand.

Nearly two decades passed before Sesow — then a software engineer based in Washington, D.C. — began sifting
through this traumatic experience by taking up painting. Two more years went by before the self-taught artist displayed
his labors in public for the first time, selling 14 works on the sidewalks of Georgetown.
Sesow started painting full-time in 2000, producing images of such biting, frantic, slashing impact that they led to
exhibits at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in D.C. and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. He also struck a
chord with such influential contemporary folk art collectors as Baron and Ellin Gordon of Williamsburg.
Two of Sesow's searing yet unexpectedly complex paintings can now be seen at the Gordon Galleries of Old Dominion
University, which became home to much of the couple's nationally known collection in August 2007. For all their
intensity, however, these insightful explorations of the human psyche represent just the opening shot in a new exhibit of
more than 50 works called "Uncommon Power: The Eye of the Self-Taught Artist."
Organized by curator Ramona Austin — and drawn entirely from the Gordon's collection — the show is only the
second in the 2,500-square-foot gallery since it opened. But it's far more structured and instructive than the inaugural
exhibit as a survey of self-taught art.
It also demonstrates time and again that these homely if often wildly inspired talents can be the equal of any
academically trained artist — and perhaps connect with ordinary viewers more strongly because of the way they
embrace the whims, worries and wounds of everyday life.
Sesow's gripping vision of two addiction-addled inmates in "Out of Detox," for example, doesn't shrink from
expressing the manic, self-destructive existence led by its subjects. They look fundamentally disturbed — and Sesow
underscores their beleaguered conditions with his thrashing brush strokes and the unnatural blues, reds and greens he
chooses for the color of their eyes, tongues and skins.
What singles this picture out even more is the evocative gesture of shared pain and companionship with which these
strung-out souls hold each other. Even in their besieged state, they still manage to connect with one another — and stir
feelings of a shared humanity with viewers.

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Story Source: Daily Press

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