Paintings by Petra Cortright
Paintings by Petra Cortright
Petra Cortright’s core practice is the creation and distribution of digital files, whether they be videos, GIFs, or jpegs, using consumer or corporate software and platforms. She has become renowned for making self-portrait videos that use her computer’s webcam and default effects tools, which she then uploaded to YouTube.
Cortright’s paintings on aluminum or acrylic are created in Photoshop using painting software and appropriated images, icons, and marks. The digital files are endlessly modifiable, but at a “decisive moment” they are translated into two-dimensional objects. They become finite, yet their range of motifs and marks, and their disorienting perspectives and dimensions suggest dynamic change.
Petra Cortright uses a range of mediums, both digital and analog, to explore the aesthetics and performative cultures of online consumption. She is particularly interested in video-sharing sites like Youtube: in vvebcam(2007), for example, Cortright recorded herself on a webcam passively scrolling through different effects on the recording device, while a repetitive trance beat played in the background. Despite the video reaching international viewership, Youtube removed it in 2011, due, the company said, to its excessive use of “offensive” language; Petra Cortright tagged the film with explicitly sexual language, a component which the artist considers part of the work. Espousing a rough home-video aesthetic, Cortright often records herself performing simple acts and gestures, such as kicking a football, tugging at a tree branch, or dancing around a bedroom. Her works, which frequently employ effects, filters, or computer graphics, highlight video memes and behaviors common to sites like Youtube.
Petra Cortright lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She has studied fine art at Parsons The School of Design, New York, NY (2008) and the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA (2004).
Artwork
Exhibitions
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Blake Jones: When No One Was Looking
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Pepi Erdbories: Love Letters & Modern Philosophy
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Yokoteen: Day In The Blue
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Bibi Lei: Fight For Love
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The End Of The Road: Group Exhibition
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Fanny Brodar: Party Town
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Debbie Reda: My Childhood Cast
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Adam Handler: Ghost Poems
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Kristin Moore: Golden Hour
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Pepi Erdbories: Is Love Really Worth It
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Kristin Moore: Way Back When
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Brock DeBoer: The Gossamer Series
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Bijijoo: Leggy
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Sebastian Magnani: Once Upon A Time
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Alex Voinea: Serendipitous Expressions
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Hong Ji-Young: Epidermis World
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Pepi Erdbories: May You Make Yourself Happy
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Introducing Todd Koelmel
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Brock DeBoer: Sculpture Release
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André Wendland: Exclusive Release
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Holiday Shop
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Karl Lagerfeld: Photographic Legacy
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Identity by Sage Barnes
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Starsky Brines: A Balance of Dichotomies
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Tim Gatenby: Pop Mania
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Tyler Shields: Duality
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Introducing Juliano Mazzuchini
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Adam Handler: Ghost Poems
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Introducing Petra von Kazinyan
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A Conversation with Kristin Moore
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A Conversation with Brittany Fanning
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Ed Ruscha: Landscapes
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Andy Warhol: Marilyn Monroe Prints
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Andy Warhol: Reigning Queens
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Roy Lichtenstein: The Female Evolution
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A Brief History of Fashion Photography
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Tim Bessell x Andy Warhol Surfboards
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Bruce Makowsky and the Art of Luxury
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Legendary Andy Warhol at Guy Hepner
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