My show "POLITICIZED" ended yesterday in Vancouver, BC at Gallery 1515 and it sold out! Thank you to everybody that came and the great people of Vancouver that I met while there. HUGE thanks to Sarvenaz Amanat and her family as they were wonderful hosts and treated Dana Ellyn and I like superstars!
If you are in Vancouver, drop by and check out the gallery soon... I just sent some new work for the gallery to carry on an ongoing basis.
THANKS! Matt Sesow
Exhibition Solo Exhibition · 2016
“Politicized 2,” Gallery 1515, Vancouver, Canada
Solo Exhibition — "Politicized 2," Gallery 1515, Vancouver, Canada — exhibition extended with new paintings through January 30, 2017
Matt at the time · his Facebook posts
if you are in Vancouver during the inauguration, please stop by Gallery 1515: http://www.straight.com/listings/events/853606
Here's a bit more on the show with my art happening in Vancouver on Friday:
About the Show at Gallery 1515:
At first glance, Matt Sesow’s colourful and dynamic expressionist paintings may be unsettling to the eye, but these powerfully composed works are intended to challenge and inspire viewers beyond the limits of their typical responses. Sesow’s bold portrayals of political figures, social hierarchy, inner turmoil, and powerful and vulnerable animals, capture our attention and sometimes evoke discomfort. They take us to a place of brutality, shock, and awe. His raw and turbulent style results from the unique traumatic events in his life; as a child, the propeller of a landing plane severed his dominant hand and forearm. Through the cathartic act of painting, Sesow expresses the trauma that exists inside of him, and simultaneously considers the suffering, turmoil and contradiction…
VANCOUVER IS AWESOME!
http://events.vancouverisawesome.com/events/2017/1/20/matt-sesow-politicized-2-inauguration-day-open-house
Saved web pages and links
Research notes
- The listing gives the opening as October 21, 2016, 7–10 pm, and says the show focused on the US election and politics around the world; curated by Sarvenaz Amanat.
Where this record comes from
- history.sesow.com (live, 2026-10-03)
- Matt Sesow’s Facebook posts (artist’s own export), matched to this entry by name and date
Cite as: Sesow, Matt. “‘Politicized 2,’ Gallery 1515, Vancouver, Canada.” Matt Sesow Career Chronicle, 2016. history.sesow.com/e/2016-politicized-gallery-vancouver-canada-extended.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 2016
- Exhibition “Matt Sesow: Shock and Awe,” American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore
- Milestone AVAM solo exhibition “Shock and Awe” runs for over a year
- Exhibition “Divide and Conquer / Rise Above,” VSA Colorado / Access Gallery, Denver, CO
- Milestone Four solo exhibitions in a single year
- Press Westword — Denver
- Press Baltimore Style magazine — mention of the upcoming AVAM solo exhibition
- Press “Art in the City,” Capital Community News
- Exhibition “Matt Sesow: Politicized,” Gallery 1515, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Exhibition Paintings at “Une Vision Singulière,” a gallery in Saint Brieuc, northwest France
- Exhibition Paintings at Tieken Studio and Gallery, Paradise Valley, AZ
- Exhibition “Landscapes of the Collector”
- Exhibition Transformer Gallery 13th Annual Silent Auction & Benefit, Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC
- Milestone AVAM’s SideShow Gift Shop begins carrying original Sesow paintings and “Join Hands” documentary
- Press AP News / AP Travel — feature mention of AVAM solo exhibition
- Press Folk Art Society of America — AVAM exhibition featured
- Press Raw Vision Magazine — feature
- Press BmoreArt — review of “Shock and Awe” solo exhibition at AVAM
- Press Baltimore Magazine — AVAM solo exhibition listed as “must see”
- Press Columbia Daily Tribune — Missouri
- Milestone Open call to DC-area collectors to lend their Sesow paintings to the AVAM show
- Media “Heads and Tails” — Орёл и решка, the Russian/Ukrainian TV travel show
- Exhibition “Matt Sesow: Shock and Awe” — AVAM members' opening reception and artist talk
- Award “Join Hands: The Life and Art of Matt Sesow” wins third place, Best Documentary Feature Film, Down East Flick…
- Press BmoreArt review by DC writer Brendan Smith, “Shock and Awe Hits the American Visionary Art Museum”
- Press NYU School of Medicine, Medical Humanities database
- Press Professional Artist magazine
- Media Monthly Saturday gallery talks at AVAM throughout “Shock and Awe”
- Exhibition Group show with Dana Ellyn, AMP: Art Market Provincetown, MA
- Media Artist talk for the Pratt Contemporaries at AVAM’s “Black and White Reveal Party,” Baltimore
- Exhibition “Co_works” — exhibition of collaborative works with Norbert Guthier, G Gallery, Houston, TX
- Exhibition Open house and show with Dana Ellyn, 44 R Street NE, Washington, DC
- Press Brut Force — “The Art of Shock and Awe,” feature on the AVAM exhibition
- Press Library Journal reviews “Join Hands” (2016)
- Press “Photos: Matt Sesow at the American Visionary Art Museum” — City Paper, 2016
- Press City Paper links the Post’s “one-handed artist” feature (2016)
- Exhibition Two-Person Show — with Dana Ellyn
← Back to this entry on the timeline
Saved copies — every page, full text
Every outside source cited on this page, kept here as page images you can zoom and as complete, searchable text — so nothing depends on a link that may disappear. Use your browser’s Find (Ctrl/Cmd+F) to search all of it.
Saved copy · 1 page
Matt Sesow: Politicized in Vancouver at Gallery 1515
Do604, Vancouver (event listing) · October 21, 2016 · original address
Listing for the opening reception of "Politicized" at Gallery 1515, Vancouver.
Click a page to open it — scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move, arrow keys for the next page.
Full text
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: Matt Sesow: Politicized in Vancouver at Gallery 1515
Publisher: Do604, Vancouver (event listing)
Date: October 21, 2016
Original URL: https://do604.com/events/2016/10/21/matt-sesow-politicized-opening-reception
Why it matters: Listing for the opening reception of "Politicized" at Gallery 1515, Vancouver.
Copyright remains with the original publisher. Reproduced for reference and scholarship; contact sesow@sesow.com
with any request.
Other Cities
Do604 MORE MEMBERSHIP
OUR NEWSLETTER
VICTORIA EVENTS
Matt Sesow: Politicized
Past(10/21/2016)
7:00PM
Gallery 1515
Edit
Please join us for the opening reception of 'Matt Sesow: POLITICIZED'
Artist will be in attendance!
Friday October 21st, 7-10pm at Gallery1515
On view from October 21- December 4 at Gallery1515, POLITICIZED will feature a selection of paintings by selftaught Washington, D.C.-based artist Matt Sesow. The exhibition focuses on the US election and politics around the
world. Sesow’s expressive painting style is influenced by street art, politics, and current events. His symbolically rich
compositions use raw, rapid, and expressive techniques, often depicting figurative scenes, dense with detail and fraught
with emotion. When Sesow was 8 years old he was struck by the propeller of a landing airplane, ultimately losing his
dominant hand as a result of the accident. Untrained and self-taught, Sesow started painting in 1995 as an emotional
reaction to his disability and was quickly discovered by collectors of folk, visionary and outsider art. His work has
been widely exhibited, most notably at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, the Chrysler
Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, and galleries in France and Barcelona. In September of 2013, Sesow was honored
to have his work featured on a postage stamp issued by the United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA).
http://www.gallery1515.com/matt-sesow.html
Exhibition curated by Sarvenaz Amanat
Featured Events