Gideon Baws was a member of animation team Shynola, responsible for a number of music videos that are probably more familiar than his name. They definitely fall within the category of ‘music videos that look great on mute’. Sadly, Gideon passed away suddently a few days ago while on holiday in the US at the age of 33.

Gideon’s contribution to the ever developing music video genre through the work of Shynola has been groundbreaking. In an industry populated with the pursuit of fame and fortune, Shynola has sought to bring creativity and passion back to the forefront. In completing videos for UNKLE, Radiohead, The Rapture and Queens of the Stoneage, Shynola sought to unify music and the visual arts in a way that brought both to their full potential. Such videos are defined by their artistic invention and skill mixed with a warm sense of humour and wit.

Shynola began as a group of four friends who met at the Kent Institute of Art and Design while all studying illustration and film. The four members - Gideon Baws, Jason Groves, Chris Harding and Richard Kentworthy collaborated on a variety of art projects before forming what would become Shynola. As well as music videos they built a substantial body of commercial work for clients including Nike, Orange and PlayStation.

The most memorable and experimental of Shynola’s work is probably Good Song by Blur. Shynola’s deft animation skill coupled with outsider artist David Shrigley’s fondness of the bizarre has made this video one of the most engaging but essentially oddest around. It won several awards including the British Animation Award for Best Video.

We would like to take this opportunity to extend our deepest sympathies to Jason, Chris and Richard and everyone who knew him.

Animator David O’Reilly has posted a warm tribute here

You can also visit www.shynola.com where he has been described as "a quarter of our hands, but 80% of our mind".