Paul Spooner is a mechanical toy maker whose work is marked by simplicity, wit and wry humour. He would like to be known as a mechanicaljoke-teller and his stories make him laugh.He starts his toys with sketches of ideas some of which work and some that do not.His work fuses the worlds of conceptual art, cartooning, engineering and theatrical set design.His work has a sense of wistfulness, a halfway point between pessimism and optimism.
I am interested to design moving puppets and toys like his that could be operated by the audience by moving of handles or pressing of buttons.
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/technology-21714090/twisted-toymaker-paul-spooner-on-his-wooden-cartoons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbUA0qdggs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVrtmDCD23U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiLFRz9rVYM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fukdvHCkHLQ
Ron Fuller and Keith Newstead are two other Automata artists whose toys are simple yet very effective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHCkGyIddzM
https://vimeo.com/144049207
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGbTAU52os
