Dakota Rogers is an artist and live painter based out of Goshen, IN. He began his journey into professional painting around 2014-15 after back-to-back awe-inspiring and connective experiences at the Werk Out Music and Arts Festival. Seeing so many painters gathered and creating in a live atmosphere awakened something in Dakota. Shortly thereafter, he began experimenting with different mediums and styles in search of his own.

Dakota’s early concepts and process began by utilizing lines and dot work. This helped him in understanding what worked for him, what didn’t, and what ultimately made his soul sing. Dot work wasn’t it, but it was clear that painting was a pursuit Dakota was passionate about. His creative juices now flowing, he continued practicing. As his confidence and skill grew, he endeavored live painting at festivals and events. First as a patron painter before figuring out how to become an official contributor. He’s become a staple at many Suburban Sound Syndicate sessions and events.

When it comes to how he produces his artwork, Dakota appreciates different approaches. On the one hand, he’s fully capable of starting a blank canvas and pulling an image directly from his mind’s eye kind of like a flow state. At times, this can be a labor intensive and long process. When is the canvas finished, if ever?

Alternatively, especially over the past year, Dakota has been sketching daily. For him, sketching first is much like a brainstorming session. It streamlines his creative process and sets the tone for what will follow. From those sketches comes a plethora of inspiration and ideas which he compiles into an image he wants to paint. He’ll transfer the design to his canvas, lock in a color scheme, and set about bringing it to life. It’s a procedure that leads to finishing pieces faster than flow abstracting. Even so, now that Dakota has more than a few murals to his credit, he’s looking forward to challenging himself with more free flow abstractions on a larger scale.

When speaking about artists who are influential to his own work, Dakota is quick to name Salvador Dali and especially MC Escher. Escher is world renowned for his tessellations, where a mosaic pattern is formed through the layering of geometric shapes or tiles. He also speaks highly of Gavinger and Logan Walden, standouts within festival live painting and music communities. After crossing paths at the first couple of Werk Out festivals, Gavinger and Walden became early mentors who showed Dakota the ropes. How live painting works, best practices for preparedness and sharing space, plus tremendous insights into aspects of free flow and letting music influence artistic conceptions.

In Dakota’s free time, he enjoys kayaking and walking his dogs, playing guitar (Paul Reed Smith), and has a soft spot for a delicious and hearty burrito alongside a cold, refreshing beer. A man after many of our own hearts. If you’d like to discover more about his art, follow him on Facebook and Instagram @artwork_of_dakota_rogers.

--Electro Scribe--