An Interview with Artist Kyle Vest
By Elizabeth Dashiell
There are multi-talented artists, and then there is Kyle Vest. The Wilton Manors resident moved to South Florida last Halloween and has settled into the South Florida lifestyle the way he settled into the international art scene – with a whole lot of color, drama and (seeming) effortlessness. Residents and visitors might catch the celebrity artist touching up his new fluorescent murals for LIT Bar or doing the work that helped make him the go-to artist on a host of A-List celebrities’ speed-dials: Skin Art.
Vest’s skill with bodies-as-a-canvas was enough to win him a coveted spot in the second season of the GSN breakout hit, Skin Wars. The reality game show pitted 12 body painters against each other in a series of themed challenges. Vest, the youngest competitor in the show, lasted through seven out of ten challenges, taking home a win in the “horror” challenge. Considering his alter-ego is called the “Prince of Fear,” taking that top prize was a natural for the creatively creepy scenic design master.
“I designed my first haunted house scene at a local attraction when I was 8 years old,” says Vest. “That’s when my fascination with haunted artwork first started.” Growing up in the small town of Lebanon, Indiana, options for the budding artist were few but Vest didn’t let that deter him. When pushed by a middle school teacher to choose what he wanted to be, Vest said, “special effects artist,” and was promptly told that “was not a thing.”
“I changed my answer to ‘special effects makeup artist,’ and started looking into that instead,” says Vest. His research led him to discovering Joe Blasco’s Makeup Artist Training Studio in Orlando. “It was a lot harder to get in than I thought. Joe basically pushed me to be a better high schooler.” The pushing paid off, and on graduation night he packed up and moved to Florida.
The “Prince of Fear” might now be known for his skin art and eerie mural work, but his list of accomplishments only starts there. Whether performing aerial ice skating, stilt-walking, sewing costumes for Justin Beiber’s music video – Vest throws himself into each creative challenge with single-minded purpose. That drive, however, was abruptly halted during the pandemic. Until it wasn’t.
“Covid seemed like the worst thing in the world, like I had lost everything – and then I got the call from Tyler Perry’s studios. I ended up on set for an entire year. Because of COVID I wasn’t allowed to leave the bubble. I worked six days a week, 12-14 hours a day. I was the only on-set artist full time. I filmed two TV shows a day, and then cranked out two movies: Medea Homecoming and A Jazzman’s Blues. I have never worked harder in my life, but I accomplished in that year more than most accomplish in a lifetime.” He wrapped up another film with Screen Gems, ISS, where he was the textile artist, sewing the entire interior of the International Space Station set. “They had fired the other artists, because they couldn’t physically do the work,” explains Vest. Thanks to his years as an aerial ice skater, he had both the physical agility, and the sewing ability to sew in an inverted position for hours at a time.
His frenetic schedule continued until the Tyler Perry studios went on break and Vest came down to Fort Lauderdale for a visit, and quickly fell in love with the area. “I did some installation pieces that sold really well and realized I could make more money doing my own art while still going to the beach, getting on a boat, enjoying the local scene, and basically having the Florida lifestyle.” The “quick visit” became a permanent stay as he focused on finding a work-life balance that fit his outsized passion for life. Vest hasn’t left the film industry behind entirely though, as he is currently awaiting word on a new series where he, and not his art, will be the focus. A fitting subject for the person whose awe-inspiring art is but a shadow of the life of the artist himself.
