Cynthia Coronado, a Houston-based artist, has caught the attention of Latin trap sensation Bad Bunny thanks to her endless hours of painting during the coronavirus pandemic.
Early this week, the 22-year-old shared her fan art on Twitter. She painted a photo of Bunny in quarantine, recreating the pic where he’s wearing nothing but heart-rimmed sunglasses and catching some rays. Coronado tweeted: “Finally finished my painting! I hope y’all like and hopefully, he gets to see it!” She also tagged the “Yo Perreo Sola” artist in hopes he would see and like it.
A couple of hours later, Bunny not only retweeted but offered to buy her masterpiece. “I want it. I’ll give you $5,000 for it. Yes?” he asked, to which Coronado replied: “Just let me know!” At the time of publishing, the tweet has amassed more 234,000 likes and nearly 8,000 retweets.
Since going viral, Coronado tells Billboard that she hasn’t heard from anyone yet, but hopes to soon. The painting, which she began working on after losing her job due to the global pandemic, took her roughly a week — a couple of hours each day — to complete.
“After many hours of painting, here’s the finished product. I’m so happy he noticed it! Hard work does pay off!” she wrote on Instagram.
In a Q&A with Billboard, Coronado shared more details of her passion for art, Bad Bunny and her reaction.
Before we talk about your viral moment on Twitter, tell me about your passion for art. How long have you been painting and what other types of art do you do?
I started painting just as an elective when I was a freshman in high school. I ended up loving it and have been painting since then. Due to having to take responsibilities, I had to get a full-time job and be a full-time student, I didn’t get to paint as much as I used to.
That being said, I recently lost my job along with many of my coworkers due to COVID-19, and with many jobs not being available, I’m taking the time to focus 100 percent on my art and business. I did get the chance to study many different arts such as mixed media, photography, and printmaking, but painting was something that always stuck with me. My main focus is on painting and I usually paint on canvases, but I have done projects where I paint on clothing. I even got the opportunity to paint Mac Miller and his The Divine Feminine album cover on a jacket and show it to him at a meet-and-greet before his passing.
That’s so cool that he noticed right away. What was your initial response to Bad Bunny’s tweet?
This is going to sound corny, but this is exactly how it went down: I was on a FaceTime call with my family from Mexico when I happened to get a message saying, “Cynthia, he saw it!” I saw the message but wasn’t entirely sure what it was referring to.
I continued my conversation when suddenly my phone would not stop with the notifications. I was headed to Twitter and I could not open it. My phone had frozen! I looked at my sisters and you could just see the excitement in their face! That’s when I put all the pieces together and my heart dropped! I was super shaken up and just had a mixture of excitement and joy running through me. Then after that, my sister on her phone shows me the tweet … HE WANTS IT. A few happy tears came rolling after that.
Out of all of Bad Bunny’s vibrant photos, why did you recreate this one?
My sister and I were just relaxing one day and he so happened to post those images. I really admire Bad Bunny as a person, for his aesthetic, and that’s what drew me to the image. It was a “simple” image, but honestly, there were many shadows, colors, and fine details that really were captured through it and that was what led me to decide to paint it. It was an image that really stood out to me due to the details that came along with the simplicity, and I mean, come on! Look at that picture!
These types of things must be so encouraging for creatives like you, right?
It really is! Thank you so much for the opportunity. Being a smaller local artist is never easy. It’s really encouraging and motivating, not only for me but also for many locals.
Hours of work that lead to it pic.twitter.com/fKF8fF8HQ7
— Cynthia Coronado (@CynthiasCanvas) April 13, 2020
