Inside Beartropolis: A Fantasy City
By RD Riccoboni
I had recently recovered from a heart attack, and a break up. I needed to have some fun. Sometimes your heart gets broken twice. To top that off, everything was changing. It seemed all the fun, hopping neighborhoods I once visited were all becoming ghost towns. Or Ghosting Towns! It seemed there were tumbleweeds blowing through just about every fun little LGBTQ hub. Covid hadn't even happened yet! Well, screw that! I needed to laugh and create. It was a big part of my recovery. As Art Should Be!
I never set out to build a city.
It happened at 35,000 feet.
I was flying cross-country, looking out the window at that colorful patchwork of fields, towns, and cities stretching from coast to coast. And I had a thought: What if you looked out and saw the shape of a big muscle bear of a man in that patchwork? What if the rivers were veins, the roads were outlines of muscle and whatever your heart desires? The whole sprawling geography below was actually a figure. Would it make a powerful, alive, artwork looking back at you? Of course it would. Everything is an experiment — there are no wrong answers.
I landed. I started painting. My mind went into full fantasy mode. I laughed a lot and Beartropolis was born. I'd create an art show and make it like a real estate ad. You know those tacky ones selling barren land to future wannabe land barons. "Have fun with this!" I told myself.
Welcome to Beartropolis
As the "Gay neighborhoods" seem to become more and more gentrified, homogenized, and fully integrated into the mainstream experience, we often ask ourselves: where has the Queer population gone? After one comes out, where do you go?
Why, the fictional city of Beartropolis, of course — the LGBTQ+ megalopolis located in a secret Southern California valley just north of San Diego, accessible only via Interstate I69 or daily flights into RuPaul International Airport.
Beartropolis, with its affordable (but not for long, because we make everything so darn gorgeous) welcoming cities, boroughs, hamlets, darling suburbs, and an unimaginably perfect mass transit system named after LGBTQ+ slang and community icons. The urban oasis was founded by the Bear community back in the day — after Cher's actual last tour. Beartropolis is open to all.
The Aerial Flyover Maps
For a brief time, one can experience Beartropolis's Queer fabulousness in this flyover aerial map series — mixed media paintings created by noted and celebrated LGBTQ+ San Diego artist RD Riccoboni.
Each canvas is painted in my signature style: ink, acrylic, and oil, bold color, and the unmistakable energy of a city that knows exactly who it is.
Where Would You Live?
If you were to live in Beartropolis, where would it be? Perhaps a lovely home with a view of majestic Mt. Saint Freddie — or a swank condo near the emerald tranquility of the Judy Garland National Forest. Maybe a high-rise in The Dragstrip, or perhaps an area not yet on the map, as there are still many unincorporated areas near good theater with ample free parking.
The city is still growing. There's always room for one more.
Own a Piece of Beartropolis
Original Beartropolis Aerial Flyover Map paintings are available in my studio at Spanish Village Art Center inside Balboa Park, San Diego. Canvas giclées and signed prints bring the city home at every price point.
Come visit. The city is always open — and the parking, as always, is free. (Unfortunately it's not in Balboa Park, so don't forget to pay the meter when visiting the studio.)
"Every painting is a new neighborhood. I'm still building."
— RD Riccoboni