Jeff Keen
Jeff Keen (1923–2012) was a pioneer of experimental film whose rapid-fire animations, multiple screen projections and raucous performances redefined multimedia art in Britain. Keen was a veteran of the Second World War, and his work powerfully evokes the violence, colour, speed and noise of the 20th century. He transformed cinema into a riotous collage of comics, drawings, B-movie posters, plastic toys, burning props and extravagant costumes. His early 8 mm and 16 mm films are built for speed, combining footage of Beat-era motifs – jazz, motorbikes and car culture – with experimental animations in which the achievements and atrocities of the 20th century seem to flash by within a few short, cacophonous seconds. A single frame could not contain the frenzied energy of Keen’s imagination, and by the mid-1960s he began to use multiple screens and live action in presentations of his work.
Like the Time Is Now
as uncreditedAmerica comes to Brighton as three beatniks hang out, listen to records and smoke before strange...
Movie pageReturn of Silver Head
as Silver HeadThe Keen family go on holiday in the jungles of the English countryside while the mysterious...
Movie pageBlatzom
as uncreditedJeff Keen dons paper masks and his knitted Artwar jacket, after avoiding bombs and pacing a...
Movie pageThe Pink Auto
as uncreditedThe Pink Auto, screened using two projectors, is one of the very first examples of expanded...
Movie pageArt Flies Free
as SelfA Super-8 portrait of Jeff Keen. This short but evocative experimental portrait melds Keen's...
Movie page