Petra Cortright is an American artist born in Santa Barbara, California, in 1986 and based in Los Angeles. She works across video, digital painting, sculpture and internet-based media. Her practice uses consumer software, online images and ordinary digital tools to examine how visual culture is produced and circulated.
Cortright first gained attention through webcam self-portraits uploaded to YouTube. In works such as VVEBCAM, default visual effects, animated graphics and online keywords become part of the portrait. The webcam operates as a mirror, a stage and a system of distribution. Her restrained presence also complicates expectations about women performing for an online audience.
Her digital paintings combine hundreds of layers made from brushstrokes, found images, icons and fragments collected online. The files remain endlessly editable until they are printed on linen, aluminium, paper or acrylic. Cortright turns the excess of the internet into physical images without hiding their software origins. This tag brings together articles, exhibitions and critical perspectives on Petra Cortright’s artistic practice.
Immersion and interaction: the 1990s helped define digital art as an experiential space. Post-Internet Art: When the Internet Stopped Being Somewhere Else Post-Internet Art sounds like a historical contradiction because we are clearly
Read More