Damon Crain began his career as founder of the Dynamo Arts Association in Vancouver. As a consultant in New York, his clients included the Marian Goodman Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery, trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim and the New Museum.

As a leading expert in mid-20th century glass, he has published a book and numerous articles. Damon is a Fellow of the Corning Museum of Glass and served for many years as a board member of Art Glass Forum | NY.

Focused since 2012 on contemporary applied arts and design, his background has laid the foundation for a unique program focused on functional objects demonstrating skill, technique, process, concept and an integration into a historical dialogue.

Through Culture Object, Damon presents objects created with the intention, possibility, or evocation of physical function. Each object has a story, a conceptual function, of equal importance; they are vehicles for, and documentation of, ideas and knowledge. By their manufacture, the objects preserve, promote and evolve technically advanced processes and materials. In sum, Damon’s work is to present skillfully made functional objects that are technically and conceptually innovative.

Research, Ideas (PDFs)
Ideology & Structuralism
The Big Nothing
Nothing is Truly Alive
The Case for Optimism
The Art of Not Trying
Free Will
What is Sleep?
Inherited Memories
Where is Now?
The Universe is Spooky
The Extreme Luck of Existence
Reality is What our Minds Make It
Consciousness and Physics
Finding Ourselves
Consciousness is Matter
All Machine and No Ghost?
A New Theory of the Universe

Rules of Production

Enter the Age of Intentional Objects

Ideas incarnate, in service, inspire.
At the heart of every object lies a function.
Function is relevance is beauty.
The clearer the function, the more relevant the object.

Now is the time for practical aesthetics.
Now we engage ethics, civics, history, science and nature.
Value lies in the ability to serve a purpose or cause an effect.

The World + The Work = The Work
We are culture.
We cooperate or die.
We create and preserve ideas.
Reality is what we have evolved to perceive.
Dreams and ideas are made real in objects that reach through time.
Objects are made for ideas; made objects build new ideas.
Ideas are commerce; their function is to be exchanged.
Ideas are perishable; they become artifacts.
Ideas and objects regenerate through iteration.

Framework for Production
Begin with the question 'what does it do?'
Pursue conceptual evolution & technical innovation.
Understand, embody, and work in service of your values.
Integrity, concept & execution transform raw materials into valuable objects.
Engage others; make objects accessible, inviting and compelling.
Discernible content is requisite to expression.
Create for the greater good.
Build to last.

The Result
Inspiration or provocation – failing that; use.

The Recipient, Consumer & Patron
Ownership is in service of preservation.
It is open to all for a concession of time and dedication.
To preserve is to connect with cultures that precede and proceed.
It is an act of humility to place yourself in the historical continuum.
It is a devotion, a pleasure, and a responsibility.
It is a journey and an education without end.