Exhibition Information:
Artist name: Kelsey Steuernagel
Exhibition: The Enchanted Borderlands
Media: Digital Art or Illustration
Gallery: Dr. Maxine Merlino
Website: N/A
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelseynoelleart/
Kelsey Steuernagel is an undergraduate at CSULB, in the BFA pre production program in the school of art. Besides digital art, which is the media of the work I will be discussing in this post, her interests include traditional art and visual development in general. Ideas that her work explores in this exhibit specifically are a combination of the two genres western and fantasy. As she explained to me, these are two genres that are generally not crossed together, in comparison to other cross play such as horror comedy or romance comedy, which herself and the other contributors to the exhibit noticed.
There are many formal qualities of this piece, which is titled “Adelaide”. The lines are very fine. This is perhaps more easily done with digital art if using some sort of pen, in order to truly get every ounce of detail possible into the dress and form of the cowgirl. Noticeably, most of the shapes seen are circular or cylindrical, ranging from the body of the cowgirl herself, to the moons in the background and the cactus. In addition, the colors used are both bright and deep hues of green and blue, as well as deeper shades or brown.
The main content surrounding this entire exhibit is a cross between fantasy and western, as mentioned previously. A basic understanding of the underlying storyline of the exhibit is that there is a glowing green emerald that can produce naturally strong energy, which can power towns, or as others desire, weapons. Steuernagel described that their story begins out of greed as each and many races of the Enchanted Borderlands attempt to get their hands on the powerful gem. Furthermore, some powerful individuals even go as far as to hire others to seek the gem throughout the magical and chaotic world. Adelaide, as Steuernagel named the cowgirl in the piece, is part cowgirl part elf and fits into this storyline as her lasso actually harnesses the glowing green emerald.
Personally, I was pleasantly thrilled to see a cross between western and fantasy. I think it is genuinely such a compelling concept that should definitely be explored more in film and such, since it can have so much potential. The piece ‘Adelaide’ is exquisitely beautiful, the half cowgirl half elf is a concept that worked well in Kelsey’s case. It seems that she chose wisely in which aspects from both categories that she wanted to incorporate into the girl, managing to give Adelaide her own identity in the storyline without an abundance of overcrowding features. The fact that she has a lasso and elf ears, as well as her outfit aspects, are just enough detail to give the viewer insight into who she could potentially be. In terms of the lasso, I initially assumed that the choice to make it glow green was to incorporate the fantasy side of the piece, however after the artist revealed that it actually harnessed the gem, I was impressed and it gave Adelaide more character in the storyline. Noting her almost white hair, one could potentially recognize this as a type of color symbolism, in which it signifies purity and innocence. This also may be backed up by the expression on her face, which is one of perhaps surprise, given her gentle features. I also continued to wonder what side is she on, in terms or good or evil; did Adelaide want to keep the emerald for her own strength, or to help others in the general population? Or perhaps it was to prevent the powerful emerald from getting into the wrong hands. One could assume that her purity may suggest that she is ‘good’ and has the best intentions at heart. This part also reminded me of Wonder Woman in a sense, due to the glowing lasso in the hands of a powerful woman. Overall, this exhibit and piece was lovely, it introduced me to a new concept and universe that I hadn’t expected to be submerged into, but I’m glad I got to experience it.
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