Dakota Gearhart

• November 6 - December 4, 2014
• Opening: Thursday, November 6

Gearhart’s art practice focuses on constructing immersive environments that incorporate interdisciplinary elements such as video, sculpture, sound and light. Through the coordination of these varied components, she aims to give shape to intangible aspects of her world. Her approach to installation involves setting aside conventional forms of organization in favor of more exploratory modes such as fantasy, psychedelia, and dreams. Refuting rational hierarchies, this unorthodox approach allows Gearhart to discover life at the heart of even inorganic matter.

When We Get There is an experiential reflection on the psychology of a cage. Activated by human presence, the dense and constricted environment forces the viewer to confront the delicate line between comfortable and uncomfortable forms of containment. It poses the question: in what ways do individuals build emotional and intellectual limits for themselves and the world around them?

Winding under ceiling beams and around the 4Culture gallery space, hallways made from constructed archways interconnect and guide the viewer through a labyrinthine of repurposed wood, concrete and light. Gearhart’s intervention utterly transforms the space; rooted in play, her art proceeds as if from the perspective of a micro-organism exploring the inside of a glass jar. She is fascinated not only by the power of imagination, but also by the invisible walls that describe it. Where do such boundaries lie? What stories do they tell about our containment, our vulnerability? In an age of absolute knowledge, how far are we willing to go to preserve what is unknowable?

About the Artist

Dakota Gearhart is a multidisciplinary artist working in video, photography, sculpture and immersive installation. Born in Arizona and raised in Florida, Gearhart now lives and works in Seattle. She is a recent graduate of the MFA program at University of Washington School. Gearhart has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in such venues as Core Art Space in Denver, CO, Kincainya Gallery in Portland, OR, Vulpes Vulpes inLondon, Universitat de Barcelona, and Taiyuan University in China. Her work has been published in Trifecta Magazine, Carpaccio Magazine, and Open to Interpretation Books. She is a recipient of the Juliane Martin Scholarship, the Jane & David Davis Fellowship, and the Cultural Ambassador Scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Education.