Artists are known for doing things unconventionally, but Matt Sesow and Dana Ellyn made their mark on both weddings and art openings with their nuptials at the Long View Gallery on February 5th, 2010. As the NBC story noted, “Straight Jackets, sharp knives, poison… not items you would generally correlate with the union of marriage. Leave it to D.C. artists Dana Ellyn and Matt Sesow to keep it honest.” Of course, one also wouldn’t normally correlate a local art opening with coverage on NBC…

The idea of a wedding/art opening is an intriguing mix of the personal, the flamboyant, the ephemeral, and the permanent. The press release on Sesow.com states, “During the opening night reception for Dana Ellyn and Matt Sesow’s “Till Death Do Us Part” art exhibition, the long-time couple will exchange nuptials. The couple is inviting all of DC’s artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts to the public event.” Longview Gallery of course helped spread the word. The release on their site stated, “[this is] no ordinary art show. That’s because Ellyn and Sesow — who as almost everyone in the art scene knows have been a couple for the past eight years — will tie the knot that night. It’s no joke. They’re really getting married…” Sesow and Ellyn have an established relationship with Longview, and the wedding was long planned to promote both Longview’s gallery space, and the exhibit. The local blog Renewshaw, previewing the wedding/opening, noted that “the new Longview Gallery will undoubtedly be the place to have one’s wedding reception or rehearsal dinner for years to come.”

Because of the quality of their work as artists, and the intrigue of the event, the exhibit has received amazing coverage. The Washington Post picked up the release for event listing (which you can see here), and the New York Times covered the event, and the artists, in their wedding coverage. 

Attendance on the evening was huge for a local opening, even while dampened by a massive snowstorm. Live TV coverage that evening included Channel 9, and Spanish language Voice of America (both of which you can see now embedded on the official Sesow/Ellyn website. Brightestyoungthings did a great job previewing the event, and reporting on it live. (The images in this post from the event are from the BYT coverage.) All of the reporting captures the joy of the event, reflected in the exhibit through the lens of these artists’ incisive creativity.

Click here to view more of Sesow’s work, and here to view Dana Ellyn’s. “Till Death Do Us Part” runs at The Longview Gallery through March 1st.

-Rob Bettmann
with reporting by Kathryn Boland

Top image in this post is “Love” by Sesow, photographed at Longview Gallery by Kimberly Cadena.