Painted idol
Dakota James
1 painting in the series ▪ publishes as @dakota.james
Photograph published by @dakota.james on Instagram ▪ source
See the workThere is a detail in her face that I saw before I saw anything else, and for a while it was the only thing I could see. That is why this canvas exists.
Who is Dakota James?
Dakota James is an American model and social media influencer who built her audience on Instagram. In a 2021 interview she said she started by posting a few bikini photos of her own, and that her following grew as she kept posting.
In the same interview she said the pandemic had helped her online work, and that she was looking forward to the modelling assignments that were returning as lockdowns eased.
This summary is put together from publicly available sources and has not been checked with her. If something here is wrong or she would rather it were not here, write to the studio and it is corrected or removed.
Where you know her from
- 2021Interview on dealing with social media trollsP.M. News
- 2021Interview on how she started on InstagramThe Instabulletin
- 2021ProfileVanguard
Painting Dakota James in the studio
Dakota (Pink Bikini) is also one of the largest paintings I have made, which matters more than it sounds. At full size the angle does something to you that a photograph of the painting cannot reproduce. You have to be in front of it.
Weeks of work, days at a time, with long gaps. No plan and no deadline. At some point I was finished; whether the painting is finished is a separate matter.
Dakota James paintings: what exists
Oil on stretched canvas, 120 x 80 cm, signed, one of one, from Painted Idols. Painted from a photograph she published herself. There is no print of it. The canvas was painted by hand from that photograph; what it became is the painter's doing, not hers.
What is still available, and at what price, is on the cards below.
“Something stops me. Then I have to deal with it.”
I wrote to Dakota James about this painting, as I do to every woman in the series. Not every message gets an answer. If you are Dakota James, or you made the photograph, and you would rather it were not shown here: write to the studio and it comes down. No explanation needed.
Works featuring Dakota James
All canvases →
Pink BikiniDakota
120 × 80 cm
€1.150
Follow Dakota James
Questions about the paintings of Dakota James
Is a painting of Dakota James for sale?
Yes. The one original painting of Dakota James, Dakota (Pink Bikini), is still available. It is one of one and will not be painted again.
How big are the paintings of Dakota James?
Dakota (Pink Bikini) is 120 × 80 cm.
Are there prints of the paintings of Dakota James?
No. The paintings of Dakota James exist only as originals.
Did Dakota James pose for these paintings?
No. They are painted from photographs that Dakota James published herself. She did not sit for them, and what the canvases became is the painter’s doing, not hers.
