David’s stop-motion characters celebrate the complex beauty of robotic mechanisms. From initial sketch to final assembly, each character’s body and internal mechanics are designed to act in a chorus of harmonious motion. The result is an animated performance with layers of movement that is beautiful, and fascinating to watch.

 

Growing up in New York City with artistic parents, David was exposed to a wide range of cultural influences. Early inspiration came from seeing animation festivals at the local Angelika Theater, visiting the Museum of Natural History and viewing Alexander Calder’s Circus on display at the Whitney Museum. He was enthralled by classic animation such as Gumby and Wallace and Gromit; as well as the puppetry of Jim Henson. Seeing Jurassic Park at the age of nine began a deep-seated fascination with special effects, introducing him to the work of Phil Tippett and Stan Winston. The technical artistry that went into bringing the animatronic dinosaurs to life sparked David’s imagination the most, setting him on a path to creating his own stop-motion films.

 

When his family moved upstate to the Catskills, David was able to take advantage of the increased space available and turned their garage into an animation workshop. It was here that he went on to create a number of award winning short films through his teenage years.

 

After finishing a fine arts degree at Ithaca College, David relocated to Wellington, NZ to apply his skills at Weta Workshop. Here he worked predominantly in the animatronics department for films such as: The Hobbit, The Amazing Spiderman 2, Chappie, and Krampus.

 

In 2013, David contributed stop-motion elements to the independent film Blankets, winning a NZ Film Award for Best Technical Contribution to a Short Film along with Frank Rueter and Bodo Keller. Currently David’s personal work is largely focused on creating characters and stories for his own stop-motion film projects. He lives in New Zealand with his photographer wife and their two children.