DEFILED

COLLABORATIVE PAINTINGS BY MATT SESOW & DANA ELLYN

Defiled is the long-running collaborative series by Washington, DC artists Matt Sesow and Dana Ellyn. Both have been active forces in the DC art scene since the 1990s, and after meeting at one of Matt’s solo exhibitions in 2001, their connection grew into both a life partnership and an artistic one.

The series began in 2013 with a challenge. Dana invited Matt to “defile” one of her finished paintings by adding his signature lips and teeth. What started as a playful act of interruption quickly became something deeper: a shared process of transformation. In these works, one artist begins a painting and the other steps in to alter, challenge, disturb, and ultimately elevate it. What is “defiled” is not ruined—it is pushed into new territory, reawakened, and made more alive.

That is the spirit behind the name. A Defiled Painting begins in disruption, but it does not stay there. Through collaboration, tension, risk, and trust, the work evolves into something unexpected and whole. In many ways, the final act of redemption happens when the painting is seen, exhibited, or collected—when it finds the person or place where it fully belongs.

Together, Matt and Dana have created nearly 400 collaborative paintings in this series. Many have already found homes in collections around the world, while others continue the story—waiting to be discovered, claimed, and redeemed by the next collector.

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