Anamorphosis According to Timothy and Stephen Quay Cover Image

Anamorfoza według braci Quay
Anamorphosis According to Timothy and Stephen Quay

Author(s): Joanna Spalińska-Mazur
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts
Published by: Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Quay Timothy; Quay Stephen; Anamorphosis

Summary/Abstract: In their film “De Anamorphosis” or “Artificiali Perspectiva” (1991) brothers Quay present, using striking examples, how anamorphic technique is used in European paintings. The intention of the filmmakers is to remind us of the concept of anamorphosis that was created by European painters. The Quay brothers highlight the idea of painters from the 16th and 17th century, for whom anamorphosis was the true way of representing vision. It is not the first time when Quay brothers used the technique for their animation work. They used it before in 1990 in “Comb (from the Museums of Sleep)”, where an attentive viewer may recognize the influence of anamorphic art (e.g. in Emmanuel Maignan’s fresco) and the use of anamorphic technique, which nonetheless differs slightly from its use in paintings. The title comb becomes an object of changing proportions, depending on the point of view. Timothy and Stephen Quay argue that it is the point from which we observe that shapes what we see. The image is not created by the perspective, but it is the image that suggests the perspective of looking.

  • Issue Year: 2008
  • Issue No: 64
  • Page Range: 88-93
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Polish