"Under the Influence"
at Aroma
an exhibit of paintings by Dana Ellyn and Matt Sesow
Washington, DC
Opening Party: December 6th 7pm - close
Video from opening night
"Under the Influence" is an important show for me for several reasons. First, it's an exhibit with my nearest and dearest, Matt Sesow. Second, Aroma is the place where Matt and I met 6 years ago. And, "Under the Influence" is the perfect moniker on several levels. There's the obvious reference to drinking but, on a deeper level, it refers to the influence Matt and I have had on each other as painters. We'll be exhibiting about 12 paintings each which will hang at Aroma throughout the months of December and January.
Enough explanation....now the invitation.
Thursday night kicks off the show! Aroma is a bar so you must be 21 years or older to attend.
There's no firm start or end time...we'll get there around 7pm or so.
Under the Influence
Dana Ellyn
Dana Ellyn is a DC resident and full-time painter living in Penn Quarter. Dana committed herself to full-time status in 2002 when she decided to leave her corporate job and pursue painting. Her work is exemplified by a risk-taking vision, strong content, and colorful critiques of social mores. Dana values her fine arts training but now works on peeling away the art school compulsion to make, and hide behind, pretty pictures. Local DC galleries have taken notice of Dana Ellyn and are benefiting with recent successful showings of her work at Long View and Gallery Plan B here in DC.
Matt Sesow
Matt Sesow is a DC resident and full-time painter living in Adams Morgan. Matt started painting as a hobby while working at IBM in the mid 1990's and took to art full-time after establishing himself within the movements of Outsider and Folk Art. Matt claims his work doesn't fit into the stereotypical vein of Outsider Art, instead preferring to call himself a self-teaching expressionist who happens to be passionately creating somewhere within the outliers of contemporary art (an "Outlier Artist"). Self-represented and vehemently independent, Sesow now lives entirely off the sales of his paintings while continuing to branch outside the Washington, DC area showing at a variety of emerging and established venues.
