Joe Seme Biography and Paintings

Artist Joe Seme paints still life and trompe l’oeil from his studio on the coast of North Carolina. Painting for over 30 years, since 1973, he has enjoyed the constant search for new and interesting subjects to paint. Like most trompe l’oeil artists, he has a sense of humor, compiling unique objects together to draw the viewer into seeing the humorous aspects of everyday life as well as the beautiful moments.

Joe’s earliest paintings reflected all the things he loved to do - he found an old decoy and for many years painted decoys and themed still lifes around hunting and fishing. An avid ball player, he migrated to sports memorabilia, collecting objects for paintings about golf, tennis, baseball, fly fishing and even billiards. A few years ago, antique corkscrews caught his fancy and worked their way into his paintings. Giclee and limited edition prints are available for selected images. See the Gallery web site for details.

Nationally known, Joe Seme’s paintings have been exhibited in the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Mint Museum of Art, the Asheville Art Museum, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and many others. His work has been featured in American Artist, Today’s Art, ARTNews, The Arts Journal, Ducks Unlimited Magazine, Wildlife in North Carolina and Mountain Living to name a few.

In 1980 Joe was commissioned to do the Maryland Waterfowl Festival’s 10th Anniversary Directory cover painting and Print of the Year. He was accorded the same honor in 1990 for the Festival’s 20th Anniversary. In 1992 he was inducted in the Waterfowl Festival “Hall of Fame.” only one of three artists so honored. In 1994 the St. John’s Museum of Art of Wilmington, North Carolina gave Joe Seme a Twenty Year Retrospective Exhibition.

McBride Gallery is pleased to represent this talented artist.