Sun Drenched and Bleeding
“Sun
Drenched and Bleeding” By: Louie Tucci
I recently sat
in the audience for the premiere of French visual artist Loic Zimmermann’s
documentary, “Gamma Wray-The Painter’s Journey”. For forty or so minutes, I
wrestled to keep myself still. The excitement of going behind the curtain,
where process and workflow are traditionally guarded trade secrets separating
master and apprentice, was too much to bear. Seatbelt fastened.
If you are
unfamiliar with Southern California artist William Wray, that’s about to change
and Loic Zimmermann is leading the charge. Notable for his work as a cartoonist
and landscape painter, Zimmermann’s recent documentary strips back the layers to
reveal in William Wray, a modern impressionist pushing the physical boundaries
of both material and canvas. Zimmermann’s lens takes the already electrically
charged work of this modern master and exposes Wray as a man on a noble
mission. The journey spans the wastelands of the California desert and almost
forgotten region of the Salton Sea, the confines of inner-city buildings and
even reveals the defeated faces littering Hollywood Boulevard.
The film’s
soundtrack is quirky but keeps the action moving forward. It’s the perfect
fusion of slightly sun stroked and drunken love we’re all looking for. The ride
starts with the strong, thumping bass of Swell’s “The Trip” and carries through
to the end with an elegant selection of orchestral wonder by Alex Horn.
For Zimmermann,
the challenge of capturing this rogue ship of creativity was no easy task.
Filmed over a year, “Gamma Wray” goes deep and strikes hard where it needs to.
You get an unabridged version of what it takes to put brush to canvas. For
Wray, the subject matter seems to stem from a humanistic urge to capture the
tired, lived in bodies of his subjects. Whether those subjects are beat up
superheroes, slightly overweight fairy godmothers, or found objects, Wray is
capable of capturing the reality of their place in our world while bringing
glory to the forgotten.
As a visual
artist, Loic Zimmermann is no stranger to making pretty pictures of his own.
This innate understanding of what it takes to bring a piece to life, transcends
and allows him to navigate his way into the role of documentarian in an almost
seamless fashion. The fit and finish of this latest project is not surprising.
After all, he’s got the inside line on what it takes to make it look good.
Making it look good and telling the story of a truly extraordinary contemporary
master is no easy task. Zimmermann presents William Wray as he is, sun drenched
and bleeding.
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