The Gantalist: Jerry Gant Documentary

Dubois Ashong is a documentary filmmaker on the rise - representing a new generation of young, dynamic storytellers. With a creative vision that bends all the rules, the drive and passion of Dubois and team is reflected in his latest, and admittedly, his most determined work to date.

The Gantalist is an intense and intimate profile of artist Jerry Gant, whose unique life and work is chronicled and explored by Dubois through 9 months of shadowing, conversations, interviews and shared experiences. Originally starting out as an observational documentary it develops into a how to guide for young and emerging artists. Through Jerry's life and work viewers will get a seldom glimpse at the mind of a creative genius who has navigated the ups and downs of both life and art to develop a lifestyle of his own "GANTALISM".

Here are some words from the film maker, Dubois Ashong:

"I choose Jerry because I have loved his work since about 7 or 8 and never knew who he was. I can remember being in the back seat of my parents' car and constantly asking them to travel down specific streets to look at his murals. Back then he was doing large dream like portraits that would have sayings like "DETOX THE MIND" "LAST NIGHT I KISSED A ANGEL" and "WILL WORK FOR LOVE". They were unlike anything I had ever seen. Then two years ago I was doing a film project called Thelonious Hands and Jerry came to a reading. One of the actors in the film Jamil Mangan pulled me aside and informed me that he was the artist I was always talking about. What blew my mind at this point was that Jerry was not only an aerosol artist but an accomplished fine artist as well. From that point I had to find out more and tell his story.

It is totally indescribable to sum up the amount of knowledge I have accumulated while doing this project. My entire team and I describe it like an advanced grad school course condensed in a matter of months. Jerry has taught not only myself but our entire film crew how to be a true artist, and that is no exaggeration."

The documentary premiers this Friday at Solo(s) Project House. Below is a preview:

THE GANTALIST life, times, & art of Jerry Gant from DuBois Ashong on Vimeo.