Photo: Robert Barker, Cornell University/Courtesy MoMA
Headless puppets, elaborate dioramas, doll parts and Victorian curiosities come to life in a major new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art celebrating the intricate, idiosyncratic works of the Quay Brothers.
For more than three decades, the legendary identical twins have applied their unique artistic vision to surreal stop-motion and live-action films, commercials, drawings, theater sets and miniatures.
"From a curator's point of view, what was compelling and challenging about organizing a Quay Brothers show was that even those who know and admire their films had never enjoyed full access to the broad range of their accomplishments," said MoMA curator Ron Magliozzi in an e-mail to Wired.
"Their work is mind-boggling in its richness; and the history of its growth, from deep roots in the rural United States through design and illustration to filmmaking – absorbing the influence of so much culture, art, music and film along the way – is impressive to say the least," Magliozzi said. "That they've maintained their creative independence across so many different mediums of expression for so long should be a real source of inspiration for other animators and filmmakers."
Terry Gilliam dubbed the Quays' 1986 masterwork Street of Crocodiles – a short film based on the Bruno Schulz novel of the same name – one of the top 10 animated films of all time, in a 2001 piece for The Guardian.
"As an American, I always wanted to be seduced into this strange decadent, rotting idea of Europe, and the Quays have created that world in a manner which hypnotizes me, but which I don't fully understand," wrote Gilliam.
- - -
The exhibit Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist's Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York until Jan. 7, 2013.
