FOUND AFFINITY

The central focus of my practice stems from a serendipitous exploration into geometry, symmetry, design, and color. Since the summer before my sophomore year, I have found more and more that the affinity I have for hard-edge geometric abstraction is a deeper reflection of the way in which I process my thoughts and surroundings. In the past year, I have sought to challenge myself by questioning the core of my practice and pushing it to go beyond its individual elements. In this way, I seek to create work that is more than its parts. As a result, I have become more purposeful with my designs and push both the spatial boundaries of my paintings as well as the multifaceted effects which are produced through the strategic handling of color. Although I design the blueprint of each painting ahead of time, my paintings are largely improvisational and the majority of the decisions are made in-process.

Dakota Becker

Dakota Becker was born in 1996 in Chisago City, Minnesota. They are currently working towards earning a B.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Becker has completed internships at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Studio Two Three, and recently studied abroad in Florence, Italy. Becker’s paintings were selected by jurors Dean Daderko and Toby Kamps to be exhibited in the 2015 and 2016 VCUarts Undergraduate Juried Fine Arts Exhibition. Additionally, Becker has exhibited their work at Alchemy Coffee at The Depot in Richmond and was published in the 2015 and 2016 editions of VCU’s Poictesme Literary Journal. In 2015, Becker was awarded the Art Foundation Program’s Outstanding Achievement Award. They have since been awarded the Peachtree Scholarship in 2016 and the Phillip Megs Memorial Scholarship in 2017 by VCU’s Painting and Printmaking Department.