Art Clokey's "Gumbasia" is considered by many to have been the first claymation movie, and the movie which later influenced the Gumby cartoons (or claytoons, if you will). Certainly in its use of stop-motion it's innovative to some extent, despite the fact that the first film containing claymation was in 1908 (with Segundo de Chomón's "Modern Sculptors"). The masterfully-handled animation, created only by a college student, uses blobs of clay to create an alternate universe in its artful use of the substance, one in which the only hint at human life is a smiling face with a winking eye.
"Gumbasia" is only three minutes in length, but it uses the precious time it has to experiment with the boundaries of a ping-pong table (for a work surface), a huge amount of clay, and a camera. In the film, a whole world is created using clay to make shapes, such as a cube or sphere, patterns--using (I presume) fabrics, and many other impressions. The different colors of clay contort, mix, and shape to create all sorts of abstract images. It's a nonstop experimentation with stop-motion, occasionally using slow camera zooms to show the alternate dimension Clokey has created. The maker of the art clearly had talent, and exceeds far more creativity than the average home movie. Also, the addition of the jazz track works excellent with the visuals and creates just the feel Clokey was obviously going for.
One of the previous reviewers has failed to see any interest in "Gumbasia", and while I respect his opinion, I cannot help pointing out that he is clearly not an art geek and thus has no appreciation for abstract art. I, on the other hand, enjoy experimental cinema and find it sad that Clokey did not continue exploring impressionism. The Gumby cartoons do explore fantasy worlds to some extent, but not at the level this does. I recommend this artwork to anyone who can appreciate abstraction, and not to someone who can't enjoy it. If you see it, watch the full color version, which has a brighter and more appealing look than the washed out, faded-color version.