Ex-Madison Avenue 'Mad Man' Swaps Ad Biz  for Brushes and Paint

By PAMELA and GERRY BARKER
North Palm Beach Life

What does a man do after a 40-year career working with the biggest names and accounts in advertising? If you're Cy Seymour, now 87 years young, you find new worlds to conquer, like art.

One of Madison Avenue's fabled  "Mad Men"  of the Fifties and Sixties, Seymour's Service Art Studio in New York handled high profile accounts for all the top-flight agencies -- such as BBDO and J Walter Thompson. He worked on the original ads for the introduction of the Volkswagen Beetle. His client list included Chanel, RJ Reynolds and Revlon, where he collaborated with iconic photographer Richard Avedon, artist Peter Max and actress/model Catherine Deneuve.

Seymour's work can also be found in the cinema -- he did the movie titles for the original "Planet of the Apes" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." Among his few regrets -- turning away a job for a client no one had heard of at the time: Microsoft.

He decided to try his hand at painting, something he never had time for before, in 2014. While his style draws comparisons to Jackson Pollack, Seymour said "it just evolved" as he layers on different colors.

Listen to Seymour talk about his art and his career in this interview in his North Palm Beach studio:

Seymour uses layers of colors in his work

Cy Seymour in his North Palm Beach studio

Cy in His 'Mad Man' Days

Art Gallery

To date Seymour has sold 10 paintings, each fetching thousands of dollars. His work can be found on EBay.
Visit Cy's Website:  www.cyseymourart.com