The films of the Brothers QUAY have recently been widely reviewed with an excitement which always announces media 'discoveries'. In this case, there are inevitable frustrations in publicising their rare species of animation: it contradicts box office values; refuses to be sold under a Cultural brandname; its apparent contrivance achieves an authenticity outside the convenience we call 'now'.
Together with their producer, Keith Griffiths, the Brothers QUAY have been instrumental in effectively destroying many people's misconceived notions about animation a something one grows out of as quickly as possible. With its specialised technical demands and subjective adventurousness, animation in three dimensional space begins where live-action cinema ends – just beneath the skin of imaginary events. and there enters the bloodstream of abstract meanings. One has only to see a single example of this sort of cinema to begin to suspect that animation is uniquely equiped with mirrors of enchantment which can reflect a vibrant flux behind the curtain of the senses.
The misconceptions which surround this intensely concentrated medium overlook an obvious clue. It is usually refered to as puppet animation, a vague term with more overtones of kids' stuff. Has the word lost some of its colour with time? The old English popet and the French diminutive poupette connote doll and stretch to describe an infant. Both derive from the Latin pupa which carries a more ancient quality of meaning . The concept of the imago as a finished state of existence is preceded by a sleep of transformation, hence, pupa. Now we have a more Intriguing sense of the real nature of animation - the pupa (puppet) Is something preformed. in the state of metamorphosis.
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