DAKOTA REDINGTON PRATT

(b. 1980, American)

Dakota Pratt is an award-winning, emerging artist whose found-object, process artworks are truly original. Collecting bottlecaps from restaurants and bar owners, who know and collect his works, Pratt flattens them with a sledge-hammer, then nailing them in fish-scale patterns to his carpentered forms underneath. The care with which he arranges color details, and shapes and forms his wood substrates are hard-won dimensions of true finesse, combining to make these works marvels of ‘engineering’ as well as of style and technique.

Found-object art began in the 1930s with the rise of Dada and Surrealism, and was capably expanded by “Pop” artists of the 1960s New York. Process art is art which, by definition, displays the way it was made to the eye of the viewer.

Pratt received his art education at Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio, and he is the recent recipient of the “Lincoln Innovation” Award. He is influenced by the works of Henry Spencer Moore, Salvador Dali, Andy Warhol, and Claes Oldenburg.

Dakota comes from an artistic family. His parents Rick and Denise Pratt are the country’s foremost ‘twig’ artists! Through his upbringing, Pratt developed a keen sense of design and a unique style of construction. He grew up on the road while his parents traveled from art show to art show, and the lifestyle completely influenced the way he began to think, work, and create. He delved into the American scene, and developed his own style of language by fusing consumer-driven Pop ideas with American Craft Art.

When creating a new piece, Pratt begins with simple wooden or metal bases. He uses vintage bottle caps (flattened with a sledgehammer) and fastens them to the forms to bring ordinary and whimsical designs to life. Seamlessly finished with epoxy resin, each piece is engaging, full of color, and altogether unique.