Jarnow; 1975 -- Courtesy: The Numero Group

Chances are you didn't know it, but if you grew up in the 80's and were reared on 3-2-1 Contact and Sesame Street, then you grew up with Al Jarnow. A multimedia artist who's animated shorts became archetypal on public television, Jarnow helped define an aesthetic that nostalgists now pine over.

Though for Jarnow, his career has always been about motion--from early panoramic paintings and public TV animations to short films and software development.  We consider ourselves serious appreciators of Jarnow's work and recently caught up with him in an effort to (re)introduce you to his work:

"To me it's always been about moving forward," he says. "I've worked with everything from 16 millimeter film to digital. It's all been a progression."

Jarnow claims art is something he's always done. "My parents thought I would be a lawyer, but on some level, I knew I'd be an artist." In the early '70s, he was putting that conviction into practice, painting landscapes of beach and cityscapes. "The paintings show the movement of time and light," he says. "And I always go back to the beach. I just found this great blank canvas in the beach."

POW 2 - gouache. 9" x 12", 1971

During the '70s, Jarnow also got his big break doing the shorts for public television. "That allowed me to get an education," he says.  

Here's one from 3-2-1 Contact you may remember: