Ray Zone: 3D King of Hollywood Speaks about The Goal of Art
posted on April 21 2008 by elCID
Being new to Los Angeles, I had certain preconceptions about the Big Metro; grimy, seedy, full of strange characters running around shouting strange prophesies of malcontent or endless frivolous diversions, juicy vamps with big dreams of success clawing for my attention or respect, and endless traffic on big highways running from one suburb to another.
While the latter may be true, the rest isn't. Sure, there's some strange characters running around L.A., but they're fun to watch. And truly, the vamps are mostly limited to upscale bars and clubs. And one thing that L.A. has in abundance is art. Galleries, shows, demonstrations, classes, public pieces, murals, and entire buildings that you'll see nowhere else. L.A. has history, vast amounts of it, and with history comes historians like Ray Zone.
We met Ray recently at an art show he curated, dramatically called "Hollywood Apocalypse" at the Black Maria Gallery. The show title and theme has its origins in the book "The Day of The Locust" by Nathaniel West, the art at the show depicting scenes of mayhem and brooding malice. Poppish, sometimes disturbing, Ray walked around meeting people with a happy grin and a real interest in knowing our thoughts about these exotic depictions of modern Rome burning. Our first reaction was surprise, the second laughter. The art was at once disenchanting and alluring, freakish and evolved.
Ray is perceptive of the rise and fall of societies, almost fascinated by it. Though no formal historian, he knows his 3-D intimately, and has written volumes on the subject. Together with the production of movies and comics in 3-D, Ray Zone may be the most knowedgable historian about 3-D alive. Ray elaborates, "I was always fascinated by the ability to take two dimensional scenes and making them jump out at you... that was my first allure to the 3-D world. How did this work? What's out there that I can find? And how can I become a part of that?"
Growing up in Rancho Cucamonga (just called Cucamonga at the time), Ray's journey to Hollywood was a long and winding road, fraught with... well, what all humans have to face, to be honest. What sets Ray apart, in this humble writer's opinion, is Ray's overwhelming sense of destiny, a desire to create and understand creation. Influenced by The Power of Myth and The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campell, Ray took it upon himself to follow the Hero's path of self-discovery, finally ending up in Hollywood, where a million dreams float in the air like candy. "You must journey. We all must journey. Without the journey towards understanding and creativity, it's not a living," Ray states. But is it necessary, I asked? "Necessary for what? Subsistence? No. Living? Absolutely. We all must make a voyage, or what we perceive as a voyage to be complete. Many of life's problems arise from not following those goals of creation. We all have a voice inside of us urging us to create. Some of us are fortunate enough to listen to that voice."
Ray elaborates, "Passion is inherent in all humans. Most rarely tap into it. I guess the biggest problem for us is that we don't know how to listen to that passion, or lose it along the way. One of the ways to recapture that passion is to create, whether it be art, movies, writing, or any type of expression, really. But if you do, that passion evolves into adundance. I think that's what most philosophers have said in one form or another throughout the ages." I asked Ray about popular culture, advertising, the fears of society, and how they all mix together in our world. "I think advertising and popular culture are influenced heavily by fear, obviously. You could almost say that the Hero's Journey is the breaking away from popular thinking to take another path, YOUR path, towards what calls you. This process, taking ideas and turning them into reality - for me it's the most important thing in the world. It's the reason for existing!"
I asked Ray what his special achievement was in life. Ray smiled and said, "Showing people extraordinary things are possible. For me, comics have shaped the way I think. Many think that comics are a diversion from reality, which is certainly not so. Comics are a way of explaining the unexplainable, a way around throwing dirt in someone's face. You can say things in comics that you would not dare say anywhere else. And what you say can change societies. Look at all the comic-based movies coming out now. Coincidence? I think not."
So the individual is driven by the creation of art, and society is transformed by it? Ray beams, "Art drives society forward. Art equals narrative, which is communication, which equals the birth of social ideas. And social ideas are what bind us together as a society. Art's goal is to evolve the narrative of life and society. So, without art, society cannot grow. How's that for an answer?"
Hey, if I could think like that, I wouldn't be driven to interview him. Fare thee well, Ray, keep on truckin'.
See more of Ray Zone at his website, http://www.ray3dzone.com/.
