Curriculum Vitae
-
BIO
1973 Born in Concord, North Carolina /// Currently Lives and Works in Long Beach, California
EDUCATION
2005 Completed Coursework for MA in Special Education /// California State University /// Los Angeles, CA
2004 Mild to Moderate Teaching Credential, Level 1 /// California State University /// Los Angeles, CA
2000 MFA /// Emphasis in Sculpture & Art Theory /// University of Nevada /// Las Vegas, NV
1995 BFA cum laude /// Emphasis in Sculpture /// Virginia Commonwealth University /// School of the Arts /// Richmond, VA
1995 Study Abroad /// Technikon Natal [ Durban University of Technology ] /// Durban, South Africa
1993-94 Study Abroad /// Loughborough College of Art & Design [ Loughborough University ] /// Loughborough, England
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010
ART for CLARE /// Bergamot Station /// Santa Monica, CA
the OsCene 2010 /// Laguna Art Museum /// Laguna Beach, CA /// Grace Kook-Anderson, Curator
Kunstmilch Presents: Dameon Lester /// Display Case Reutilization Project /// California State University /// Long Beach, CA
2009
notBig /// Logsdon 1909 Gallery /// Chicago, IL /// Doug Stapleton, Juror
Geometric Sequence: Random or Otherwise /// Caladan Gallery /// Cambridge, MA
The Ethnocentric Nature of Line /// Solo Exhibition /// Irvine Valley College Art Gallery /// Irvine, CA
2009 DigitalArt.LA /// Los Angeles Center For Digital Art [ LACDA ] /// Los Angeles, CA /// Rita Gonzalez [ LACMA ], Juror
MOCA FRESH! Silent Auction /// The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA /// Los Angeles, CA
OC Art Grant /// Juried Competition and Catalogue /// Santa Ana, CA /// Phyllis J. Lutjeans, Juror /// Honorable Mention
Roll Up Long Beach /// Jet Studios /// Long Beach, CA
Mail Art Festival 2009 /// Galeri Shah Alam /// Persiaran Tasik, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Works of Paper /// Solo Exhibition /// Fifth Floor Gallery /// Los Angeles, CA
The Art of Communication /// Gallery RFD /// Swainsboro, GA
11th Annual Postcards From the Edge Benefit /// VISUAL AIDS /// New York, NY
2008
Naturally Synthetic /// @space Gallery /// Santa Ana, CA
2003
Vegas Baby! /// Elevation Gallery /// Atlanta, GA
2001
Artificial Structures /// Raid Projects /// Los Angeles, CA
2000
MOMA Members Show /// Alumni Center & Grant Gallery, UNLV /// Las Vegas, NV
Student Art Show /// Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, UNLV /// Las Vegas, NV /// Kim Dingle, Juror /// Juror’s Merit Award
Fantastic Plastic: Shapescapes /// Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art /// Las Vegas, NV
New American Talent: The Fifteenth Exhibition /// TFAA /// Multiple Locations, Texas /// David Pagel, Juror /// Juror’s Merit Award
1999
Tri-Art Show /// Government Center /// Las Vegas, NV
Annual Auction: Y2Chaos /// Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art /// Las Vegas, NV
Fuzbreed: The Halfway Showing /// Grant Hall Gallery, UNLV /// Las Vegas, NV
Graduate Student Exhibition /// Marjorie Barrick Museum /// Las Vegas, NV
Student Art Show /// Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, UNLV /// Las Vegas, NV /// Ingrid Calame, Juror
MOCA Members Show /// Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art /// Las Vegas, NV
Unctuous Youth /// ActionSpace /// Los Angeles, CA /// Curated by Steven Criqui
1998
Gradbag /// Grant Hall Gallery, UNLV /// Las Vegas, NV
The Lab /// Las Vegas, NV
Subversive Souvenirs /// Contemporary Arts Center Gallery /// Las Vegas, NV /// Curated by John DeFazio
1997
Public Installation /// Northern Illinois University /// DeKalb, IL
1995
Senior Exhibition /// James Center /// Richmond, VA
Student Juried Show /// Anderson Gallery, VCU /// Richmond, VA
Inaugural Exhibition /// Durban Arts Center /// Durban, South Africa
1994
LCAD Student Show /// Loughborough, England
BIBLIOGRAPHY
David Pagel, New American Talent: The Fifteenth Exhibition, Show Catalogue, Texas Fine Arts Association, February 2000. read excerpt »
John DeFazio, “Exercises in the Theoretically Uncollectible,” Subversive Souvenirs, Spring 1998.
RESIDENCIES
Vermont Studio Center /// Johnson, VT /// May – June 2010
AWARDS / SCHOLARSHIPS / GRANTS
2010 Vermont Studio Center /// Artist Residency Grant
2009 OC Art Grant /// Honorable Mention
1998-00 Graduate Assistantship /// UNLV
1997-98 Private Scholarship /// UNLV
1995 Undergraduate Exchange Scholarship /// VCU /// Technikon Natal
1993-94 Undergraduate Exchange Scholarship /// VCU /// Loughborough College of Art & Design
-
“… Viewers come upon Lester’s 3-D cartoon of a sculpture as if stumbling upon the aftermath of an abstract accident.
A fuzzy lump of a figure lies on the floor in a circle of purple vinyl, which has the unmistakable presence of a pool of the
poor creature’s spilled blood. Hovering overhead is its dark shadow (made of fiberglass coated with black Astroturf),
that, like a melancholic spirit, drifts heavenward while looking longingly back at the life just lost. Lester’s poignant
sculpture is a multilayered metaphor for the lives works of art embark on once they leave the studio. It is also a fairly
sophisticated repudiation of Plato’s claim that art is merely a shadow that exists at an alienated distance from the gritty
stuff of life, which is itself only a diminished copy of an eternally perfect ideal we can conceive but never get close to,
except in our minds.” — David Pagel
Untitled (Shadow, Shadow) /// Juror’s Merit Award
