Solo show: Rebus Works (Raleigh)

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7/6/26, 6:57 AM

Don Giovanni ... Sesow Solo show at Rebus Works in Raleigh (october 2006) ***

this page:

Matt Sesow Solo show at Rebus Works (Raleigh, NC)
work done during Opera Company of North Carolina's production of "Don Giovanni"
(press release below) October 2006

http://www.sesow.com/rebus2k6.htm

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116126,6:57 AM Don Giovanni ... Sesow Solo show at Rebus Works in Raleigh (october 2006) **

Matt Sesow painted ‘Adorned’ using acrylics and house paint on canvas,
live during the Opera Company of North Carolina's October production of ‘Don Giovanni.’

You read about his painting-to-live-opera during last month's production of “Don
Giovanni." Now see the results of Matt Sesow’s collaboration with the Opera Com-

pany of North Carolina.
Tonight during First Friday, Sesow will
open an exhibit of

ata), the art at Rebus
CTILIC'S — Wecartoynae
icks enue. He painted the
p eee

ellen sungon up to 12 feet wide ~
the best visualart _0N stage during the
performance and in

the lobby. Sesow will

also give a gallery talk at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The paintings are in Sesow’s signature
style: gestural, primally abstract and po-
tently colored. He's frequently called "an
outsider artist,” meaning he's not acad-
emically trained and favors expression-
ism over realism.

Does the label fit? Sesow, once a dar-
ling of the “outsider art world, has plenty
to say about it.

“To me it seems that ‘outsider art’ is a term Invented by people who will profit
from it," Sesow said in an interview prior to the "Don Giovanni" performances.

For one thing, it's not much of a movement, he argues. He also became uncom-
fortable that he, a college-educated technology professional who took up painting,
might be portrayed as a victim to sell art. Sesow lost one arm as a child ina plane

Sesow’s works, including ‘Devotion,
are at Rebus Works through Nov. 30.

btp:/www sesow.com/tebus2K6 him 24

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7/6/26, 6:57 AM

Don Giovanni ... Sesow Solo show at Rebus Works in Raleigh (october 2006) ***

Rebus Works Press Release (November. 2006)

Matt Sesow

Friday November 3rd, 2006
Rebus Works will feature paintings by artist Matt Sesow for the month of November. This work was created
for and during The Opera Company of North Carolina’s production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don
Giovanni. The opening reception will take on place on Friday, November 3rd as part of First Friday. Sesow
will be present from 6-10 pm and will give an artist lecture Saturday, November 4th at 4 p.m. with a question
and answer period to follow.
For this particular body of work Sesow was approached by Founder and Artistic Director Robert Galbraith of
OCNC to be a part of the performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Sesow painted five set backdrops in a day
and half. He also painted one 12-foot-by-7-foot canvas during the audience sitting before the performance,
and during the 20 minute intermission he completed another large canvas for each night of the two night
production. Sesow also donated two canvases to the OCNC for their annual auction. “I let them choose which
two they wanted and they picked Reality Theater and Hunted.” They will be available from the OCNC at a
future auction.

http://www.sesow.com/rebus2k6.htm

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7/6/26, 6:57 AM

Don Giovanni ... Sesow Solo show at Rebus Works in Raleigh (october 2006) ***

Sesow, an ex-computer programmer who started painting in 1994 to impress a girl, fell in love with painting
and has been obsessed with it since. Sesow is truly an inspiring and prolific artist creating works that are raw
and intensely expressive. He uses bold paint colors and hard lines that are visually commanding. Sesow’s
paintings often have a language within themselves using symbols to describe an idea or feeling such as a
bunny signifying innocence.
Sesow’s involvement with “Don Giovanni” is not his first foray into the performing arts. In 2003, he created
six large canvas paintings that were used as backdrop and inspiration for a month-long performance
celebrating the life and accomplishments of Alfred Kinsey at the “Theatre of Note” in Hollywood. Read more
about the show.
Also, in 2005 he was asked by a theater company in Phoenix to create a large canvas expressing his thoughts
on the Iraq War. The painting was used as the inspirational foundation by ten playwrights. They each wrote
plays relating to and reacting to my painting “Collateral Damage” (8’ x 9’ on canvas). Then during the month
of April 2005, the plays were performed in front of the large painting which also acted as a backdrop.
View the painting at: http://www.sesow.com/paintings/jan2k5/hell.jpg
Read some press on it at: http://sesow.com/cdpressrelease.htm
In September of this year Sesow received a letter from the nominating committee for the 2006 Wynn
Newhouse Award. It is a $50,000 prize to be awarded each year “to an artist of excellence who also has a
disability”. It is a nomination-only award, so he was pleasantly surprised to be contacted by the judges. He
should know by the end of November if he has been selected as a finalist.
Opening Reception:
Friday November 3, 6-10pm (as part of First Friday)
Lecture:
Saturday November 4 @ 4pm

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PAINTINGS...

http://www.sesow.com/rebus2k6.htm

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