The brothers quay biography of barack

July Oct. 10

Twins Steven and Timothy Quay, better known as the Quay Brothers or Brothers Quay, are two of the most influential stop-motion animators. Born in America but based in London, the Quay Brothers show strong European influences in their work, which has often been described as gothic and surreal. Known to be dark and moody in atmosphere, most of their short films deal with unusual themes — such as the occult, folklore and weird architecture — often relying on visuals and no particular dialogue.

The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama is hosting, for the first time in Japan, a retrospective of the enigmatic Quay Brothers' work. Visitors will find illustrations, models and videos revealing the brothers' process from initial sketches to detailed visual story lines.

The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama; , Isshiki, Hayama, Kanagawa. Shin-Zushi Stn. a.m p.m. ¥1, Closed Mon. ;

The Brothers Quay, identical twins, make marvellous, mystifying films in which eerie stop-motion puppets outnumber the few live performers. These films might be set in a strange school for servants, or a lecture hall, or a labyrinth, but really they take place in a small desktop universe that runs according to its own alien rules. The brothers hate the idea of having actors voice the puppets and have done so only under duress, once or twice, because it feels so demeaning. Demeaning to the actors? No, they say. To the puppets.

Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass is just their third feature in a year career, after Institute Benjamenta and The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes. Mostly, they make short animations. They also design for the stage, make music videos and devise site-specific installations such as their Overworlds and Underworlds project in Leeds for the Cultural Olympiad. Film features cost money, take for ever and involve a gaggle of interested parties, which is another word for meddlers. And so they very much doubt they’ll do another. “We’re 77 years old,” they tell me. “No one’s going to fund two old men.”

‘What’s this all about?’ Christopher Nolan asked us. ‘Don’t ask these questions,’ we said

I’m delighted that they managed to slip this one under the wire. Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass is unique and opaque, with its own spooky logic. Loosely inspired by the work of the Polish author Bruno Schulz, a perennial Quays touchstone, it’s about a young man, Jozef, who boards a steam train to visit his father at a TB hospital in the Carpathian mountains. So far, so straightforward – except that the film unfolds as seven disconnected scenarios which are reputedly the flashes retained by a detached retina. This detached retina, in turn, is stored inside a mechanical box and is due to be liquefied by the sun on the morning of 19 November. There are some t

Stephen and Timothy Quay, identical twins, were born in Norristown, near Philadelphia, in After graduating in from the Philadelphia College of Art, where they studied illustration and graphics, they won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, London.

At the School of Film and Television they made their first short films (mostly lost), and met fellow student Keith Griffiths, who first collaborated with them on Nocturna Artificialia (), funded by the BFI Production Board.

Working together as Koninck Studios, with Griffiths producing, the Quays have maintained a steady output of surreal and fastidious puppet animation films, supplemented by design work for opera, theatre and ballet.

To help finance their avant-garde projects they have also worked on TV commercials, channel identification footage, and numerous music videos, including the Stille Nacht series, and, less characteristically, Peter Gabriel'sSledgehammer.

The Quays are renowned for their cr