This month, we pause to remember the iconic animator and filmmaker, who died in a tragic motorcycle accident August 17.
This month, instead of the usual “Binocular Briefs” short film survey, we take a pause to pay tribute to the works of Paul Bush, who passed away after a motorcycle accident on August 17, 2023.
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I can’t claim that we were close friends, but our animation festival world is small and intimate. We’re all like family. Paul would be one of my cousins, I guess. I first met Paul around 1996 or 1998, somewhere in that range. I was initially intimated by him. His works were somewhat dense, and he seemed quite serious from afar.
Oh, how wrong I was.
Yes, Paul was quite smart and serious about his work, but he was also an incredibly charming and sweet man, armed with a sometimes dark and wicked sense of humor. I also loved the contrast between his “posh” English accent and his occasionally biting and rapid-fire comebacks.
Paul was also one of the most versatile animators and filmmakers around, always pushing himself to do something new. When I saw that a new Paul Bush film was entering Ottawa, I knew that I’d have no fucking clue what to expect but that it sure as hell wouldn't be boring. Paul was always surprising, always curious, and never wanted to travel the same creative path.
Here are a few highlights from a remarkable career and person.
Still Life with A Small Cup, 1995
Bush uses Morandi’s etching to take the viewer back into the artist’s world. The film starts with a series of seemingly abstract lines. It is unclear what these lines are or where they are going. Only at the end of the film does Bush pull the camera back to reveal that these lines form the cup in Morandi’s etching. In taking us from the micro to the macro, Bush simultaneously celebrates Morandi’s work, explores the beauty and abstract quality of everyday objects (something Bush will return to), and takes us through Morandi’s own creative process.
Furniture Poetry, 1999
A playful, philosophical piece inspired by a Ludwig Wittgenstein quotation: "What prevents me from supposing that this table either vanishes or alters its shape when no one is observing it and then, when someone looks at it again, changes back? But one feels like saying, Who is going to suppose such a thing?"
Bush contributes to the question by manipulating tables, chairs, and various domestic objects into a frenzied and comical dance. The result is a relatively simple yet satisfying film that can, strangely enough, appeal to both intellectuals and young audiences.
Pas de Deux de Deux, 2001
A performance of Swan Lake is transformed from a graceful, smooth ballet into a mechanical, awkward, and ugly routine.
"All the physical inconveniences of dance that ballet does so well to hide are visible in this film, except the blisters, the smell of sweat, and the rash caused by the tutus," says Bus0h. "It was commissioned for a program of experimental dance films, and after its première, many of the people involved told me that they loved the music, which they could suddenly enjoy again and find moving because the film had kind of de-kitsched the ballet for them."
Lay Bare, 2012
Heading in a whole new direction, there was a period where Bush was fascinated by the human body (I’d love to show his penis-laden gem, Busby Berkeley's Tribute to Mae West, but it’s not available online and some wingnuts would likely get all offended anyway).
For Lay Bare, inspired by an Oscar Wilde quote, Bush took photographs of over 500 people (different ages and cultures) and mashed them together into a hypnotic dance through assorted parts of the human body (hands, moles, hairs, fingers, ears, eyes, noses, etc.). It’s a wonderful celebration of the beauty we don’t always see.
The Five-Minute Museum, 2015
I find museums, like many gallery spaces, rather tedious. The whole hallowed “we gotta shut the fuck up” atmosphere is stifling and unnecessary. So... this five-minute (it’s actually 6:35, but let’s not quibble) fast forward through various facets of the museum is a fantastic alternative, one that brings the stillness of history to life as only animation can. Along the way, Bush brings his trademark wit while constructing imagined mini-narratives from various pieces of the museum collection. It’s a museum visit for speed readers and ADDers, and somehow a reminder (as the various pieces race by before we can even process them) of just how fleeting existence is.
You can see more of his films here: https://www.paulbushfilms.com/.
A well-known figure in the world of independent animation, writer, author & curator Chris Robinson is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
