Paul Bush, a British director, animator and teacher of experimental cinema, managed to diversify the classic forms of visual art. Having developed new artistic techniques, he influenced modern visual culture. Learn more at london-trend.
Documentary Animation Discourse
Paul Bush’s early years and career as a director
Paul Bush was born in London on February 2, 1956. He was the son of British composer, teacher and music scholar Geoffrey Bush. He influenced his son’s passion for creativity, motivating him to study Fine Arts at Goldsmiths College. There, he became a student of Michael Craig-Martin, an Irish conceptual artist.
Having joined the London Film-Makers’ Co-op, Paul Bush began to make his films in 1978. The members of the organisation started their activities by showing films at the Better Books bookstore and then established an independent filming base. They managed to form a fruitful creative output, which became part of the avant-garde structural film movement. Some of the members were Malcolm Le Grice, Stephen Dwoskin, Annabel Nicolson, Roger Hammond, Mike Dunford, David Larcher and others.
By 1981, Paul Bush had already acquired the necessary qualifications to teach film directing. Having founded his own film studio, he headed various courses and the production of student films. In 1984, Paul made his debut with the short film The Cows Drama. Having secured the critics’ support, he began to form his creative experimental output. Initially, the director focused on live-action, but in the 1990s, he also got interested in animation.
After leaving his own studio, Paul Bush began teaching art classes at his native Goldsmiths College in 1995. The following year, he founded a film production company, Ancient Mariner Productions, focusing on producing both arthouse and commercial films. Soon, his documentary Rumour of True Things was awarded at the Bonn Videonale. In 1998, the director demonstrated a new technique of scratching animated images onto colour film stock in The Albatross.
In 2003, Paul Bush began collaborating with the English and Canadian artist Lisa Milroy, known for her still lifes depicting everyday objects. After a year-long cooperation, they released the short animation Geisha Grooming. In 2015, Paul received an invitation to become a lecturer at Harvard University. He didn’t get enough money from film-making, so Paul started to earn a living by participating in the lives of students from all over the world. Paul Bush’s creative career was cut short in a car accident. He died on August 17, 2023, leaving behind his wife Lana Nikolic and two children from a previous marriage.
LUX
Recognition and significance of Paul Bush’s creative work
Paul Bush made an important contribution to the world of experimental cinema and animation. During his life, he created about 30 works, including The Five Minute Museum, While Darwin Sleeps…, Flik-Flak, Lay Bare, Pas de Deux de Deux, Babeldom and others. Paul Bush was a teacher to students from the Royal College of Art, the Lucerne School of Design, Film and Art, the Netherlands Institute for Animation Film, the National Film and Television School, the International Film and Television School and other institutions. For his achievements, he has been repeatedly awarded at animation festivals in the USA, the Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, India, Japan and other countries.
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