Dakota Two Rivers Bellici  is a lifelong painter who is influenced by nature, the emotions of color, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Giorgio Morandi.  But the first and biggest influence on his art was his grandfather, Joseph Rinaldi. 

 

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“I would sit and copy his work and read his notes. I used to draw with him even though he had been dead for 15 years. In 4th grade, I drew a man in full, all muscles and such, and my teacher asked how I learned to draw that. I said, ‘Grandpa, and his books.’ She said, ‘Don’t ever stop drawing.’” 

 

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Dakota attended art school in Italy and studied at two universities in the U.S., but his abilities to write backwards ambidextrously and to convey the beauty and brilliance of nature did not come from formal education. He has a powerful inner force that drives his art and his connections to people; this force is a natural one where he allows the painting to be a painting and to fight with it and let it win.

 

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“I paint the in between moments. I paint and take away paint...like I’m sculpting.”

 

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-Lovingly written by Alexis Batra 2020

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