Martha Colburn

b.1971 (Gettysburg,PA) US. An artist and animator living in New York,NY.

A) Martha Colburn
Artist Statement

In my work I utilize the language and materials of filmmaking to comment on popular culture, consumerism, politics and sexuality. I focus on contemporary topics, such as the War in Iraq and the medias obsession with celebrity and scandal to express my personal anxieties and passions. Through a collage of live action (paint-on-glass) animations, found footage and documentary filmmaking techniques, my films are a disturbing, and at times humorous take on pop culture.

In my latest film, there is a section addressing the US militarys policy of offering free cosmetic surgery to new recruits. In this case, the American military has created a real horror that I have commandeered in order to personalize a troubling and foreign practice. Manipulating images, I play with a mix of the familiar and the bizarre in an attempt to show what I see beneath the surface of things. Animation, a process traditionally reserved for the illustration of what the human eye cannot see is, in my work, harnessed to convey the abstractions of my imagination.
I also create paintings, drawings and murals.

Education: Maryland Institute College of Art (BA), Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten (Holland). My work has been featured in exhibitions and film festivals around the world including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, Whitney Museum of American Art (Whitney Biennale 2005), New York, NY, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, NY, Musee d Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, France, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK, Anthology Film Archive, New York, NY, Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, LT, Nanjing Art Institute Gallery, Nanjing, China, Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, MA, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam, NL, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, UT, New York Underground Film Festival, New York, NY.
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