Incredible Hulk scrap metal sculpture.

Metal Sculptures of Ricardo Breceda

Aguanga, California

Ricardo Breceda had no training in art, welding, or engineering -- he was a cowboy boot salesman -- when he began sculpting in 2001. He built his daughter a life-size T. rex out of scrap metal for Christmas, and just kept going. He's best known for his 130+ dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, and one giant Sand Monster that populate the desert floor around Borrego Springs.

Ricardo has moved his studio several times, always looking for more room as the demand for his work increases. His current location, he told us, has about 500 statues. "All kinds of things; everything you can imagine," he said. The hillside surrounding his display sand pit is ringed with metal animals, but Ricardo is best known for his forays into atypical sculptural subjects. On a recent visit we saw his life-size versions of The Incredible Hulk; Alien vs. Predator; and an Earth globe with brawny multi-racial limbs fighting a Covid-19 virus. Everything is for sale, so every visit holds the promise of new Ricardo oddities as his inventory changes.

Earth vs. Covid-19: "Together We Prevail."

Each Ricardo sculpture involves a design, an internal framework, and then a skin of sheet metal hammered, snipped, bent, and welded into place. Ricardo told us that he doesn't weld as often as he used to because his eyes are getting bad, and he now directs his assistants to do that part of the job. It gives him more time to schmooze visitors, which may be Ricardo's favorite part of being a sculptor.