WK/ 6: Artist Conversation ‘The Enchanted Borderlands’

Artist Conversation #2

There is no doubt that art is a form of creativity, form of expression, a way to break barriers such as with language. Art acts as the steppingstone for bringing those closer to us to create peace and love. The art gallery I choose to appraise was ‘The Enchanted Borderlands’ by Ana Alvarez and Ricardo Corona. Alvarez had illustrated that she is an Undergrad at California State University Long Beach, who is currently in Pre-Production. She had also illustrated that she is into hiking, being outdoors, loves to analyze architecture, and also has an interest in ceramics. Alvarez and Corona had also stated that they both enjoy choreography and writing, and their inspirations for the pieces originate from Mark Maggiori who is a French American painter who is recognized for painting of American Cowboys, American Indians, and the American Southwest. With this, they had both illustrated that the purpose of drawing these pieces were to illustrate how alluring and breath-taking nature can really be.

It is clear that their work is depicting a message. An emblematic message of western, futuristic story tells of family, kinship, and the importance of sticking together in order to survive to see another day. The form of each art piece is relatively equivalent, a majority of the paintings depict dark shadow colors for the background but also depict bright vibrant colors that make the main center piece pop out to the viewer. If you pay close attention, each painting appears to be that each individual depicted in the art is in a fighting stance position, as if they are preparing themselves for a fight which ties back into survival. Each individual has dark clothing on, resembling the theme of which is in the southwest.

The paintings are about kinship, it is illustrating the importance of sticking together, it illustrates that back in the western time period of cowboys, their key to survival was solely based on sticking together. If you were alone, you were most likely going to have a much harder time getting by in life and surviving harsh weather conditions, or even having to fight off vast amounts of animals ranging from bears or even to mountain lions in order to have a sufficient meal. With this it granted access to be able to use the carcass to make clothing or to also use the carcass for trading items to acquire things you may have not been able to acquire on their conquest of survival.

For the reasons above, this art gallery ‘The Enchanted Borderlands’ by Ana Alvarez and Ricardo Corona illustrated to me that the Arts importance resembles kinship, it manifests that during the Western time period of cowboys, it was highly important to stick together. Through thick and thin, no matter how hard life was pushing them downwards toward a negative slope, the importance of kinship and making sure everyone sticks together is a key factor of what helped them prosper and which led to them to enjoy a beautiful life.