Byron Grush

To Joy, completed in 1992, is an imagist film collage set to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. According to Byron, this is his second “musical.” The first of these “musicals” was Les Preludes. Opening scenes in To Joy interchange from gardens of yellow flowers to a revolving carousel to a woman in Asian-inspired attire that is spinning an umbrella. Other scenes include a woman belly dancing, as well as young girls dancing ballet and participating in a maypole dance. At one of the To Joy film screenings, Byron was asked who “Joy” is. -Chicago Film Archives

Flesh Colored Crayons was completed in 1992. This film includes an array of animated scenes and sporadic phrases flashing on screen. The scenes are all quite different, beginning with dogs, ducks and people in a park, and continuing with a cowboy placing a revolver in his mouth. One of the longer animated scenes includes an outline of what appears to be Jesus Christ filled in with drawings of a rocket ship, a bull’s eye, Albert Einstein, and more. Some of the phrases that flash throughout the film include: “jogging my memory”, “the year was 1953,” “abort”, and “you can’t dance naked in Indiana”.

Why We Fight features a series of animated sequences. The opening animation is a man in Western gear that quickly changes into a child. Other sequences include a woman and her pet that turn into a sharp shooter and his rifle, a woman’s face that turns into a gas mask, a disintegrating peace sign, and much more. Consistently throughout the film there are flashes of words such as “fear” and “terror”. The film’s soundtrack is the sound of explosions, gunshots, and several phrases including “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”. Included in the collection is an original drawing from the film.

Byron Grush's first handmade film.

An imagist “musical” set to Liszt’s Les Preludes that incorporates manipulated color, multiple exposures, and seemingly unrelated images, with references to Les Chants de Maldoror, an early Surrealist novel by Comte de Lautrémont, and the Flash Gordon serials

The footage shown here features a mix of still images, moving images, and short animated clips. The still images are primarily of a woman in various scenarios, from riding a bike to lying nude on a jagged rock formation. The animated scenes throughout the film include black backgrounds with the following items in bright colors and patterns: mushrooms, the phrase Good-by Fat Larry, and a tiny truck. The soundtrack to this film is a folk melody.

Phosphene features colorful negatives of erotic imagery. Scenes in the film display flashes of sexual intercourse and vibrant inkblots (similar to those seen in Inkaboos). During the creation of this film, Byron was fascinated with the degenerated images in old film footage. He went on to obtain pornographic films shot in 8mm. He photographed individual frames using a still camera with high magnification and further exaggerated the grain and the contrast. Prints of these frames were re-photographed on kodalith negatives and then fastened like animation cels. Colored gels were placed beneath the kodaliths on a light box and the sequences re-animated. The film was screened at the 9th Ann Arbor Film Festival in 1971; however, it was nearly rejected due to its erotic imagery. The music in this film is from the Grateful Dead song, “Viola Lee Blues”, and can also be heard in Fotogrammar. -Chicago Film Archives

This film appears to focus on the female body in an artistic and colorful manner through the use of superimposition and flashes of repeated scenes. The film begins with two females in the nude, chatting, smoking, and eating saltines. Other scenes include two females in the nude and in a variety of positions: slouching, standing, sitting, etc. They are displayed in many colors and patterns, purple in one scene and polka dots the next. At one point, the women appear to be colorful cutouts moving jaggedly around the screen. In this film and in Hexagrams, Byron re-uses some of the same film scenes to create original content. Festival of Cyclists was created using a film technique invented with a Bell and Howell Film 16mm camera. In this technique, a short loop of film is repeatedly printed onto the camera roll. Byron wrote and published an article in Filmmaker's Newsletter about the technique. In 1972, Festival of Cyclists was shown at the 10th Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Fotogrammar, like Inkaboos, was created during a period where Grush collected images and experimented with abstractions. By placing very small objects directly onto raw film stock (watch springs, metal shavings, etc.) and exposing the film to light, Grush created Fotogrammar. Sequences were hand-tinted with dyes and in some cases printed symmetrically. The film scenes vary from colorful lines to colorful mechanical pieces, and many shapes in between. Fotogrammar was shown at the 8th Ann Arbor film Festival in 1970. The music in this film is from the Grateful Dead song, “Viola Lee Blues”, and can also be heard in Phosphene.

Created by shooting static live action scenes in overlapping exposures, rapidly fading in and out, using the variable shutter on his camera. Instead of rewinding, he simply reloaded the roll and continued double exposing. The scenes include a mix of individuals and settings. As an example, in one scene there are two women chatting. Double exposed on that scene is a news broadcast on a television screen. Exposed again on that scene is a woman cleaning her bed, and so forth. There are up to 12 layers of overlapping images at any given time. The sound track for this film was made by Byron’s sister, Mary Grush. She used a technique called “piano string music” in which the piano is played like a harp and an attached microphone distorts the sounds, producing an almost electronic effect.

Hexagrams is a film of surrealistic nature. In the film, all types of images flash quickly on screen. Images include fried eggs, Marlboro cigarette packages, and the American flag. The film continues flashing images in a quick, rhythmic pace and only slows down at three points in the film. The first slow sequence, is in a junkyard where an automobile is being set down by a tow truck. The second sequence is of two females in the nude, chatting, smoking, and eating saltines. The final slow sequence is of a man who appears to stick his tongue out, but as his "tongue" is pulled out further, it becomes apparent it's some sort of pink substance—not his tongue. In this film and in Festival of the Cyclists, Byron re-uses some of the same film scenes to create original content.

During the years 1967 and 1969, Byron collected images and experimented with abstractions. Inkaboos was created during this period. It was made from hand-made inkblots that, according to Byron, were shot to animate as strange bat-like creatures. Inkaboos features a mix of many colors. In one scene, inkblots appear in yellow, in the next they appear in blue, and in some scenes they are appear as a blend of three or more colors.

Hesper and Phosphor Part 2 features a variety of images superimposed on one another. Scenes that consistently appear throughout the film include: a woman in curlers, a man getting a haircut, a woman hand painting a small glass bottle, and a man carving a pumpkin.

This is Byron’s first film using edits of very short clusters of frames. Not yet familiar with the A and B roll technique, he simulated a dissolve by cutting sequences of two, then four, then eight, then sixteen frames of an incoming scene against frame sequences of the out-going scene.

This film is about circles. The first circular object on screen is a roll of film, the following is an orange, and thereafter, Byron’s film is a journey through all things circular. At one point, the camera itself is spun in circles, which presents a unique camera angle for the viewer.

This film is about circles. The first circular object on screen is a roll of film, the following is an orange, and thereafter, Byron’s film is a journey through all things circular. At one point, the camera itself is spun in circles, which presents a unique camera angle for the viewer.