Axis DeBruyn’s lighting delights fans of the fashion legend in Corpus Christi

Some 15,000 fans of Mexican fashion icon, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, waited hours to gain entrance to the M.A.C. Cosmetics / Selena world premiere at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, recently.

Handling the lighting for this unique event was Axis DeBruyn (of Axislights), who incorporated 48 of GLP’s versatile X4 Bar 10 battens in his design, supplied (along with the video and scenic effects) by PRG Las Vegas.

The concert arena was transformed into a Selena paradise with purple lights, purple rugs and purple Dillard's kiosks, to promote the new M.A.C. collection and T-shirts in honor of the Hispanic fashion designer (dubbed the ‘Queen of Tejano Music’).

One of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of the late 20th century, Selena was fatally shot at age 23 in 1995 at the height of her career. Corpus Christ was her home town, and such is her iconic status and loyal following, it is little surprise that the 14-piece Selena make-up collection sold out almost instantly.

Tasked with lighting singers such as Prince Royce, Isobella Maria Sanchez, and Latina DJ's Lola Langusta, Posso and many others, Axis was adamant why he chose the X4 Bars in preference to other fixtures. “With the ginormous video walls I had a lot of vertical space to fill and needed fixtures that were low power, high impact and could make the signature ‘Selena’ purple color so the camera wasn’t in a ‘black hole’ background. The X4 Bars filled this hole very well.”

He added, “Slow tilt chases were perfect for the singers, many of whom covered Selena ballads, while the strobing and chase effects were also very effective in the DJ portion of the night.”

The LD had been introduced to the X4 Bars by GLP sales representative Dave Barten, with whom he has a long relationship. “When he came to Vegas to demo the fixtures we went out to dinner and he left me one to play with for a few days. Great sales technique, as after that I couldn’t wait to get them out on a project!”

With one foot in the Concert world and the other in Events/Corporate Axis was the ideal candidate to light the M.A.C. / Selena showcase — particularly as he had also lit some of the artiste’s shows in the early 90s prior to her death.

And his debut with GLP’s X4 Bars could scarcely have provided a more invigorating experience. “I was impressed by the different looks and effects I was able to achieve,” said Axis in summary. “I especially liked they way I was able to get random twinkles out of them with some cell effects.  This combined with the tilting toward and away from camera gave me some great looking background for video.

“The X4 Bar 10’s are so small they just disappear when you’re not using them and I was able to ‘surprise’ elements from them when leaving them off for a few numbers and reintroducing them later in the set. Focus effects also made the DJ sets cooler the way I could chase from wash to beams across the background.”

Finally, he takes comfort in having such a strong support team behind him. “I must say that with Mark Ravenhill, Carl Wake, and Dave Barten on board, GLP really has some industry big guns capable of moving their products right to the forefront.”

 Photo credit: Jordan Murph Photography for M.A.C. Cosmetics