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Ken Brown (filmmaker)
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
filmmaker, photographer, cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
, and designer. He grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...
, relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, and currently lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He has directed dozens of animations, experimental films and video documentaries over the last four decades.
Films
In 1967-69 he used Super 8mmSuper 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
to create psychedelic imagery for the light shows at the Boston Tea Party club. His animated films have been seen on AMC
AMC (TV network)
AMC is a cable television specialty channel that primarily airs movies, along with a limited amount of original programming. The letters originally stood for American Movie Classics; however since 2002, the full name has been deemphasized as a result of a major shift in programming...
, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
and Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
. A 40-year retrospective of his work was shown January 2007 at the Anthology Film Archives
Anthology Film Archives
__notoc__Anthology Film Archives is a film archive and theater located at 32 Second Avenue on the corner of East Second Street in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City devoted to the preservation and exhibition of experimental film. It is the only non-profit organization of its...
, which outlined Brown's extensive work in the following notes:
- It is high time for a survey of the absolutely unique image world of filmmaker, photographer, cartoonist and designer Ken Brown. A man who dons many hats, Brown is perhaps best known for his peculiar and distinctive postcards and other graphic products (wrapping paper, rubber stamps, T-shirts, etc.). His first love and most abiding passion, however, is film. In the late 1960s, Brown was the filmmaker for the ultra-psychedelic Boston Tea Party light show, producing Super-8mm works loaded with staggering superimpositions and startling visual dimensions. His subsequent short films have continued to mine his deep fascination with American pop culture, the quotidian world of home movies and the idiosyncratic world of outsiders and visionary artists. Besides the copious experimental films, animations and video documentaries he has made over the years, Brown has produced and directed dozens of short commissions for MTV, VH-1, Sesame Street, AMC and other clients. These two programs will give an overview of his prodigious output.
Art and ephemera
His artwork has been exhibited in New York, ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Dallas, Seattle, Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. He often works in collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
, and many of his images lean toward surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
. Much of his output has been marketed on postcards, T-shirts, rubberstamps, wrapping paper, mouse pads and kitchen towels. Fine art prints have been made from his extensive collection of vintage postcards and paper ephemera.
Goofy Garden Golf
In 2004, he teamed with urban installation artist Maria ReidelbachMaria Reidelbach
Maria Reidelbach is a Manhattan-based installation artist, curator and author, who is the creator of award-winning public art...
to create Goofy Garden Golf, a decorative miniature golf course at Pier 25 in Manhattan's Hudson River Park. The Goofy Garden featured the world's largest garden gnome, planned as a tribute to Frieda Carter, who designed the first miniature golf course at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee
Lookout Mountain, Tennessee
Lookout Mountain is a town in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 1,832 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, TN–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Lookout Mountain is located at...
, in 1928.
He should not be confused with the UK illustrator, animator and filmmaker Ken Brown.
Selected filmography
- PSYCHEDELIC CINEMA (1967-69, 5 min, Super-8mm light-show excerpt)
- LIFE SOUP (1972-74, 9 min, Super-8mm, optically printed to 16mm)
- STAMPEDE (1974, 4 min, 16mm rubber-stamp animation)
- PIGEON MAN (1979, 4 min, 16mm)
- CLOUDZ (1982, 4 min, 16mm)
- PHOTOBOOTH BOP (1988, 3 min, 16mm animation)
- GOOFY GOLF (1983, 4 min, 3/4” video)
- WIGWAM VILLAGE (1983, 4 min, 3/4” video)
- HOLYLAND (1983, 4 min, 3/4” video)
- FUN ZONE (1988, 3.5 min, Super-8mm to video)