Bob Coronato
Chin
é-collé EtchingsUpon graduating from the prestigious Otis/Parsons Institute of Fine Art in Los Angeles, Bob Coronato moved to Wyoming to pursue a career as a cowboy artist. He now lives for half the year in remote, Hulett, Wyoming and half the year in Central California. (Guess which half!) His work has been shown at the High Plains Museum, the Coer D'Alene Art Auction and in 1995 won Best of Show as the Pendleton Art Show held during the Pendleton Round Up. In October of 2002, Bob was nominated by Southwest Art Magazine for the "Best Artist of the New Century Show" in which he won the Grand Prize and Best of Show.
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I used to open books and look at the "Old West" photos and see cowboys riding the open plains, and I would stop and think, "I wished I lived 100 years ago." After going out to the very remote west, and finding ranches that still "cowboy" in the old ways, I realized that the west I was searching for as a kid was still there.In tiny hidden corners of the country, you can still find places untouched by time. There are ranches that gather on horseback 2000 to 3000 head of cows, across 100's of miles of fenceless landscape. The time has come where land is becoming too valuable, and it is no longer affordable to have cows roaming free, on open range. This forces ranches to sell off lands to survive, and before long, the "West" will be gone. Even now I can see dramatic changes and the things I was lucky enough to be a part of just a few years ago, are now gone. For example, old-style ranch rodeos, traditional brandings, log cabins with no electricity, and running the chuck wagon during roundup. I no longer have to wish to be a part of the old days, but have become part of the west I was searching for. We are at a clash of two times where traditional cowboy'n ways are being overridden by the modern technologies.
This has been the focus of my paintings as I try to document moments in time that show the ways of a fading lifestyle that so many people have admired. The freedom of the west, and the wide open spaces have become a symbol of our great country. As our lives become more regimented, and the rules become more numerous, we long for those places of freedom. The subjects of my work remind people that there still is a remote, free west. It gives a sense of relief, that we are not a completely modern country, just yet.
The question I hear most often is, "Do they still do that?" Well, yes they do, but who knows for much longer? By living in a very remote section of Wyoming , and helping ranchers and cowboys, I feel proud to have been lucky enough to be a part of this final chapter in the history of the American frontier.
For now, "The West" is alive, it's just hiding, in small corners
of our country, trying desperately to hang on, and not be forgotten."