John Whiney Sr was a pioneer of mechanical and digital animation. Wikipedia gives a brief bio here
I really enjoy looking at his work, even at the low quality provided by Youtube. Given the direction my own practice is headed in, the generation of moving images using the intangibles of code, or mechanical movement (both of which Whitey Sr employed) really appeals. This early use of technology in a creative way somehow lacks the ‘clever clever’ posturing of today’s films like Avatar, the technology itself isn’t hidden, or tying to hide. The geometry acknowleges the mathmatical roots of the animation, or the motion of the mechanics, the colours are flat, again happy to not mimic the subtlties of the natural world. Somehow I get a sense that the technology, in Whitneys’ work, is to be worked along side, not subordinated to create ‘better’ alternative realities.