155 Main St., Hulett, Wyoming
Gallery: 307-467-5849
Cell: 805-400-7706
Artist's Biography - Bob Coronato
Coronato was keen to chronicle the cowboy culture accurately and took a job ranching as a result. Coronato's the unofficial Leonardo da Vinci of ranching life and an astute observer of the culture.
Mark Ellwood, New York post
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 our 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. Hulett Wyoming is one of these hidden treasures. 20 years ago I attended Otis/Parsons Art institute in Los Angeles, and upon graduation, I moved to a town of 408 people called Hulett, to find the west I was looking for. 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 reminds 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 questions I hear most often is, “Do they still do that?” Well….. yes they do, but not for much longer. By living in a very remote section of Wyoming, and working with 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.
Currently Residing ½ year in Hulett Wyoming and 1/2 in Arizona
As of November 2016 The Portrait of Russell Means by Bob Coronato will have a new perminent home in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.
Black Hills Pioneer July 8, 2017 -- Selected by the Smithsonian
Black Hills Pioneer July 8, 2017 -- Selected by the Smithsonian
Extremely well written article Read Full Article Here ….. click here
Recent events: Photos and Magazine Articles can be seen in "press"
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In 08-22-2015 I was Photographed for the U.S. Library of Congress in my studio in Hulett Wyoming
and Photographed by the portrait of Russell Means by “Americas Photographer” Carol Highsmith.
Images in the Library of Congress:
Bob Coronato by Portrait of Russell Means call number LC-DIG-highsm- 34163 click here
Bob Coronato in his Studio Call Number: LC-DIG-highsm- 34015 click here
Photo of outside of the studio title: The complex Rogues Gallery antique store in Hulett, Wyoming
Digital ID : highsm 34200 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.34200 click here
2015-2016 Six of the Rodeo Posters were added to the U.S. Library of Congress Poster Collection Archive
Two PBS Specials 2015
Painting and Travel with Roger and Sara Bansemer Etching Studio tour of Bob Coronato
Painting and Travel with Roger and Sara Bansemer tour of Devils Tower Frontier Museum
As of November 2016 The Portrait of Russell Means will have a permanent home in the (to be announced)
Read Magazine Articles and Full Features in "Press" --- Click Button Below
Art of the West Feature click on link to read
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SOUTHWEST ART FEATURE December 2007
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How I ended up in Hulett Wyoming
About 1991 or so I was on a family vacation went to the High Plains Heritage museum in Spearfish South Dakota. I had never seen Original paintings by Reminton or Russell before and was excited. I went through the Museum and not seeing any as they had advertised, I went and talked to the curator Leo Gacimetto. Leo told how the collection was pulled, but the museum was being re opened and was going to have their grand re-opening in the fallowing spring. I asked him if I could contribute some work. He said if he liked the paintings he would give me a show at the opening.
I returned to Otis Parsons to finish up my last 2 years of school, and turning every assignment into a oil on canvas, to prepare for the show. If the assignment was to paint an advertisement for an automobile,…I would ask “does it matter how old the car is” and I would paint a covered wagon. I turned every single assignment into a western subject.
After Graduation, (BFA) I drove to Spearfish and set up the show.
A chance meeting there would change my life forever.
I ran into the host Speaker of the grand opening, A saddle maker named Carson Thomas. Carson came over to me and asked where I was from, who brought me there and what was my direction I wanted to go with my work. He drilled me with questions and couldn’t believe I was the artist. Carson then asked if he could critique my paintings.
Carson complimented me on my skill but was very quick to point out how I had screwed up on a saddle. being a saddle maker he noticed I had a saddle from the 1930’s in a painting suppose to be 1880.
I was having hot flashes because I really tried to get those details right through meticulous research.
Carson then told me “you have the talent, but not the experience” ” I can change all that,… you move out to Wyoming and Ill get you working on a ranch, and Ill rent you an art studio real cheap”
I went home to New Jersey (where I grew up) and after a few months I realized I had to move to the west if I was to take this serious. So I called Carson up on the phone, asked him if that offer was serious.
He told me it was,…I then packed up everything I owned and moved to a town of 408 people,…Hulett Wyoming.
In the first Week I was there, I met a handful of people that changed my life.
June 9th 1996
June 9th We were Trailing cows with Tom and Suzy Vore up to the “Limestone” near Newcastle Wyoming. The day started off as a rain and ended up about a foot deep of snow. I found times like this that really changed my art. I stopped painting the “old west” and started to document “my own time” like the artist at the turn of the century.
Tom Waugh, Bob Coronato, Carson Thomas
Carson introduced me to Artist Tom Waugh within the first week I was in Hulett. Tom and I have been great friends ever since. “Waugh” looked at my work and said…
“you should paint your own time, all the noteworthy artists in history painted their own time. Paint what you know,…paint what you see!”
A light went off in my head and I never painted anything else that was not something I had not seen personally or had been apart of.
that was a big turning point in my life, I finally found the west I had wanted to paint. No one could criticize the work, or the details because I personally had been there and done that. It really made more sense for me to document the last of the frontier, and the end of an era.
Blood Brothers first qulified ride, Wilsons Ranch Rodeo
The Ridge Rodeo was Put on by Jim and Louise Wilson from Ridge Montana. The had a ten year run with the wildest rodeo in the west. Max Burch from the Burch rodeo Company would gather up 50 to 100 head of wild horses off their ranch and buck out the 4 year olds that had never been riden. Blood brother was the most famous horse to come out of that Ranch country. Max bucked out Blood Brother at ridge.
Tom And Twylia Waugh
About 15 years ago Tom Waugh and I decided to Start a museum in Hulett.
We Named it devils Tower Frontier museum, and it features Historical items from the local Black Hills and western history. The main collection features Plains Indian Beadwork weapons and artifacts. The collection shows items from several thousand years ago, thru the Indian Wars and also hosts a important collection of American Indian Movement AIM photographs, wepons, and relics from the wounded knee takeover in 1973.
Cowboy history, mountain man and buffalo hunters that came through the Black Hills, are also represented. Tom and I created the museum in the old time “mom and pop” style because so many great things have been saved for history in little museums around the west. the collection is completed with a classic “two headed calf”. Our Museum is a visual treasure trove of western history and fun for the tourists to stop by and see.
Logo design by Bob Coronato for the 100th anniversary of Devils Tower.
www.devilstowermuseum.com
Devils Tower Frontier Museum
Russell means Portrait for the Masters of the American West Show at the Autry Center in Los Angeles 2010
I had to build a riser in my studio to work on the Portrait of Russell. I sat there for about 2.5 months for so many hours, I needed a cane to get up the stairs for weeks after it was finished.
Sturgis Bike Week Comes To Hulett Wyo
Hulett Ham And Jam every year during the Sturgis Bike Week.
Photos and read more in the article for Iron Aces
click here:
https://www.bobcoronato.com/pages/Press