Congrats to Matt and Dana
They are Washington painters through and through. He watches al-Jazeera and "Democracy Now." She exults in living next to the Portrait Gallery. They rendezvous and shop at Whole Foods because it's halfway between their places. Every July they make a painting a day based on the news. She studied art. He's self-taught. They get drunk in Adams Morgan, or in their studios as they paint. They're vegetarians.Read a terrific article by the WaPo's Dan Zak on the marriage of Matt Sesow and Dana Ellyn here.
Everyone says they're perfect for each other, but no one thought they'd get married. They decided to do it when they realized they could craft a show called "Till Death Do Us Part." They'd paint about their impending nuptials, hang the art in a gallery, have a ceremony at the opening, invite the public, maybe cast themselves as a power couple in the D.C. art world -- hopefully modeled on the harmonious De Koonings rather than tempestuous Frida and Diego.
Update: If you missed the event, Matt and Dana will be back at Long View Gallery this coming Friday Feb. 12 for a happy hour from 5-6pm. Come by to check out the show and ask them questions about the paintings, marriage, etc.
6 comments:
...and BOTH of them are winners of the coveted "Bowling Pin of Excellence" award!!!
Matt won the original Bowling Pin of Excellence in 2008 and Dana won the 2nd Bowling Pin of Excellence in 2009
thanks Lenny!
we love you!
your pals,
matt and dana :)
Can you say "publicity stunt"?
Can you say "be nice and wish them the best of luck"?
hi Rob,
sorry to hear that you don't like our art or paintings, but that's ok, i don't like all of what i do either.
no, it wasn't a stunt... we really did get married, i love dana, and rather than elope to vegas and do it with elvis, we wanted to have our families all here and make it a night to remember. dana and i have both shown at long view gallery in the past with great success. as well, i have been living as a full-time painter since 2001. i've shown at some pretty cool places in the world, with 2 solos in europe this year. yup, a lot of people do buy my crap!
anyways, have a great day and thanks for looking. no worries.
if you are in dc, please feel free to come to long view tomorrow/friday for 5-6pm to say hello and get to know us... also, we have a show at moca dc tomorrow (friday the 12th) starting at 6pm and another at aroma in cleveland park next friday night.
my best,
matt sesow
it’s been a few weeks now… and i think to myself about our critics…
do you see that our ‘wedding’ was a free event available and accessible to anybody that wanted to attend. we demanded that no gifts be given.. we just wanted to get married. and have our families come to attend. come have fun for free, or not!!! i hope that everybody that called us a pr stunt invites us to their perfect wedding in the suburbs… we will come, and not make snotty comments. please send me awesome samples of your artwork from your cushy 401K daytime job. love, matt
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