Tuesday Dec 2, 2008 (7:30pm)
Martha Colburn's ability to successfully comment on the complexities, anomalies, and contradictions of our society stems from her own anxiety, outsider perspective, and downright amazing technical ability. Her impressive backstory — she grew up skinning animals and bailing hay in the Appalachians before bouncing around Amsterdam, then Baltimore, and finally settling in Long Island — dulls in comparison with her frenetic, vivid, and genuinely insightful collage animation. The imagery blazes across the screen at a rapid clip, combining centuries-old manuscripts with found footage, educational archives, ads, and other bits of pop flotsam. The result is an overwhelming of the senses with sheer delight and surprisingly astute cultural analysis.
– Ilya Tovbis