Adam Beckett

An abstract animation.

An abstract animation.

“[T]he sense of moving forward [in space or time] alternates with a sense of expansion and contraction, as the finished cycle [of movement] returns to itself and rushes to catch up with its successor.” (Gadassik)

Life in the Atom was never completed but the existing version was digitally restored in 2009. The film depicts an ever-changing world inhabited by a man and woman engaged in surreal, erotic contortions. Their bodies are in a constant state of metamorphosis, as if to indicate psychological states or inner reflection as they contemplate their connection; they are being transported, transcending, merging and melting. - Pamela Turner

Sausage City illustrates Beckett's additive cycle process. Constantly evolving rectangular shapes provide a foundation for an environment inhabited by mutating blobs - or sausages. Sounds and shapes create a moving space that teeters on the edge between control and chaos. The ending is somewhat mystifying, pulling us out of the surreal environment and revealing its origins.

This is one of those abstract animated films in which colored, richly textured light moves in a black, three-dimensional space. The pictures and the electronic score are unified in a strict structure made of three main sections which progressively develop three subsections. This film may look like it was made using computers or video to the uninitiated, but only animation and much optical printing are to be seen herein.

Music: Carl Stone. Colored pen-and-ink drawings, like topological maps of biomorphic objects, grow and evolve from the red star. Once the master image is formed, this continuously throbbing, pulsating sight is used to ring changes based on years of optical work. Music and picture work together to create a mood of ecstatic tranquility. The bright colors, beautiful music, surprise at the end, etc. make this a good film for young children. Awards: Sinking Creek Film & Video Festival, 1973; Washington National Student Film Festival, 1974; Brooklyn Independent Filmmakers Exposition, 1974; Vanguard Int'l Competition of Electronic Music for Film, 1974; Humboldt Film Festival, 1974.

Beckett cycles through a limited number of drawings, but adds new information to each drawing every time we see it, giving the sense of a world that is infinitely rich and also obviously contained tightly within the edges of the paper.

A collaborative piece by Gore and Beckett, the film begins with one of Gore's characters composing a letter, to eventual mail it. Beckett's animation takes over at this point, transforming the envelope into a looping, cascading form that seems to be perpetually turning itself inside out. A brief Gore finale bookends the piece, which is one of only two extant examples of Gore's unique animation work. This film is usually appended to Gore's own Dream of the Sphinx. [Source: Mark Toscano]

Sequence digitally photographed and animated by Pamela Turner in 2009 from Beckett's original drawings; these untitled images may have been intended for use in Life in the Atom. Also included, Every Other, is a unique version of an animated "exquisite corpse" and is a delightful study of the two artists' drawings. Beckett and Kathy Rose took turns contributing segments to a sequence, each animating 24 frames, passing their final image to the other to continue. These 336 were discovered amongst Beckett's many drawings and were digitally recorded by his biographer, Pamela Turner, in 2010. - Pamela Turner

The animation referred to as Early Animations or Quacked Jokes is an anomaly among Beckett's films. It was probably not intended to be shown outside of his sphere of friends, being a collection of early experiments and directions. While lacking the sophistication and artistry that is found in his six finished works, this film provides invaluable insight to his first attempts at animation and clues to some of his later work. - Pamela Turner

These are work-in-progress elements of some commercial projects and a film to be titled, Knotte Grosse. Beckett received an AFI Independent Filmmakers grant to produce Knotte Grosse but it was unfinished at the time of his death. The images allude to computer-generated graphics (but are not) and foreshadow an interesting direction in his work. - Pamela Turner

Beckett created a significant number of animation loops which display his playfulness and also evidence his process as many are variations of ideas and images that he used in his animations. Thirty-one loops are included, selected to show the variety of approaches as well as his intriguing results. - Pamela Turner