Exhibition Information
- Artist: Ricardo Corona
- Exhibition: The Enchanted Borderlands
- Media: Digital
- Gallery: CSULB Dr. Maxine Merlino Gallery
- Website: ricardocoronaart.com
- Email: ricardocorona1096@gmail.com
- Instagram & ArtStation: ricardocoronaart
Ricardo Corona is a senior at California State University, Long Beach and is currently in BFA Pre-Production Program. According to Corona’s website, he is essentially an all-rounder with mediums as he works with “watercolor, digital, graphite, ink, gouache and acrylics”. His favorite subject to draw or paint are “cityscapes, forests, fantasy creatures and landscapes, and creating worlds”.
I will be talking about my favorite piece from the exhibit, The Confrontation. The color scheme of the digital piece is earthy and has a rustic feel. A band of thieves are confronted with a giant beast soaring to them. The beast has its beak wide open, screeching at them. In comparison to the giant beast before the group, they are tiny.
The piece overall feels nerve wracking (forgive my lacking vocabulary). Looking at this, I felt tense. What’s going on? Is this beast powerful? Can the band of people handle it? I’m a big fan of action/fantasy genres so this pulled me in right away. I’m awaiting an outcome anxiously while looking at this piece.
Corona and his partners wanted to combine two different genres and create something new in this exhibit. They decided to combine the wild west and fantasy since it is rarely seen in media. The exhibition has a story that follows it.
A group of explorers and miners go to mines and dig out minerals as their main source of power and weapons. The protagonists confront a group of thieves who try to steal minerals that they mined for. When they’re about to rob them, a sacred beast appears. The beast has an effect over the minerals which overpowers them. The thieves ditch the minerals and decide to go after the sacred beast instead. This scene with the beast is depicted in the piece “The Confrontation”.
Fun tidbits:
Corona’s favorite piece was “The Confrontation”. However, everyone else’s was “Lavender Haze. Corona commented that it was ironic since it was the piece he spent the least time on.
Corona was very inspired by Mark Maggiori (Instagram: @markmaggiori), another artist. Corona praised the way Maggiori rendered mountains, skies, and deserts and how he wanted to apply those techniques to his own skill.
“The Enchanted Borderlands” was an extremely fun exhibit to walk around in. The combination of the west with fantasy was definitely a first for me and caught my attention immediately. I’m in love with fantasy genres as they let me escape into my mind and explore more exciting ideas, such as magic. This exhibit did just that.
-Rosa Eap 🙂
Rosa Eap's Blog :) 