Kyle Damon (born Kent T. Damon Jr.) grew up in a progressive multi-family co-op house in Cambridge, MA. In between regular bouts of inspiring family travel, Kyle enjoys further blackening his toenails at triathlons, and advocating with his brother for charities such as Water.Org. He lives in the Boston area with his loving wife and two sons.

Artist's Statement

My best work isn't planned; often, it starts out as something different altogether before gradually evolving through a process of continual reworking. Typically, this process includes turning a piece upside-down, painting over it, or, to use a recent example, spilling something on it. The path to completion — with all of its zigzags and u-turns — is only clear in retrospect.

The challenge for me lies in the fact that, by definition, the accidental and the random cannot be manufactured. A recent strategy for meeting this challenge involves laying the work flat and shaving blocks of encaustic wax over it with a cheese grater, letting the shavings fall on the piece indiscriminately. Melting it all with a heat gun adds a further degree of chance. My true participation in the work begins when I edit the melted results with a brush and multiple layers of more thoughtful glazing. The piece is judged a success when it exhibits a balance between serendipity and intent (and when I have managed to avoid burning myself).

Education

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, in affiliation with Tufts University, College of Special Studies, Boston, MA
Bachelor of Fine Arts, 1988-1991

Fox Graphics, Merrimack, MA — Credited and paid position assisting professional lithographer Herb Fox in making limited edition prints, 1991

Academy of Fine Arts, Brugge, Belgium — Studied drawing, printmaking, and art history, 1988

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, Art Department — Studiowork in drawing, painting, and sculpture, 1987-1988
Liberal Arts Department, 1985-1987