Stephen Quay

Stephen Quay was born in 1947 in Norristown Pennsylvania USA He studied illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art and later continued his education at the Royal College of Art in London where he met his twin brother Timothy and began collaborating in animation Together they founded Atelier Koninck and produced their first experimental short films in the late 1970s Throughout his career Stephen has directed and codirected short films feature films and stopmotion projects including Nocturna Artificialia 1979 Street of Crocodiles 1986 Institute Benjamenta 1995 and The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes 2005 His work is characterized by dreamlike detailed and symbolic worlds often using dolls and carefully crafted objects to create surreal and unsettling atmospheres