Paul Bush (2 February 1956 – 17 August 2023) was a British experimental film director and animator.
Life and career
Bush was born in London in 1956. The son of classical composer Geoffrey Bush, he studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College under Michael Craig-Martin. He later taught himself how to make films while a member of the London Film-Makers' Co-op. He made numerous short and medium length films including The Cows Drama (1984), His Comedy (1994), Rumour of True Things (1996), Furniture Poetry (1999), While Darwin Sleeps (2004), and many others. He won prizes at animation festivals in the Netherlands, Barcelona, Zagreb, Hiroshima, Bombay, Chicago and other places throughout the world. His website contains extracts of many of his films.
His films "Furniture Poetry"(1999) and 'While Darwin Sleeps' (2004) closely resemble Jan Švankmajer's animation 'Historia Naturae, Suita' (1967).
In addition to directing and animating, Bush pioneered a technique seen in a number of his films, including The Albatross. The technique involves scratching frame by frame directly into the surface of colour filmstock over live action footage, creating an animated sequence which resembles traditional wood engraving. From 2002 Bush increasingly focused on time lapse portraits of people and more conventional animation including a collaboration with artist Lisa Milroy which produced Geisha Grooming (2003).
