Markus Sebastiano, Art

Markus Sebastiano in an art studio sitting in front of rows of spray paint cans

I learned about Photoshop in my first design class and fell in love with the digital side of things. It’s a huge part of my work now.

Folks notice Markus Sebastiano ’03.

His art is big, modern and bold, a bridge between past and present. His studio is in a 3,000-square-foot space in a Lawrence mill. You notice his layered mix of media ingredients—everything from old newspapers to acrylics, stain, metal, spray paint, water and wood. He does some of the work in his father’s sheet metal and fabrication shop in Methuen.

He got his start at UML, graduating with an art degree in 2003. He was known then as Mark Comeau. Friends had always called him Markus and his grandfather’s birth name was Sebastiano, so in branding himself professionally, he bridged past and present.

In art class, he was instantly smitten with Photoshop.

“The art program was smaller when I was there,” he says. “It was easy in a way, because it was what I was really passionate about. I loved what I was doing. I learned about Photoshop in my first design class and fell in love with the digital side of things. It’s a huge part of my work now.”

He also treasured classes with photography professor Arno Minkkinen, “a huge influence—a professor who was a working artist known all over the world.”

Sebastiano’s own career took off around 2014, after he’d worked in branding, graphic design and apparel.

He now sells his art to corporate and private clients, and is commissioned by buzz-worthy restaurants and hotels to make art to fit each space.

Sebastiano recently had a show in Los Angeles, and he’s taped an episode of a new interior design show for Bravo, to air in the near future.

Folks are noticing all over the place now.