Petra Cortright: NEON SALMON WINTER SUNSET
Cortright’s core practice is the creation of videos, GIFs, JPEGs, and other digital files produced using consumer and enterprise software platforms. She uses the computer as a canvas to express a preference for fast-paced working, in relation to the slow process embedded in traditional painting. Interested in the exploration of painting techniques, material selection and printing processes, the production of physical work becomes an important and essential element in her practice. Each painting derives from a “mother file”, which subsequently undergoes a series of transformations through editing software. Comprised of a considerable number of digital “brushstrokes” created in Photoshop the paintings are built up layer by layer. Further manipulation of texture, light and colour, enable her to work towards reconfiguring the element of flatness in digital works.
In NEON SALMON WINTER SUNSET, Petra Cortright presents a new body of work that exemplifies her digital hunting and gathering of new-age media. The artist´s recent digital collages embrace a shift towards simplicity, deviating from her maximalist brushstrokes. Her interest is focused on the dramatic landscapes of the western part of the United States, reflecting extensively on the landscapes of California and Montana, where she has spent most of her time in. In this new series of paintings, Cortright explores the interplay between the cold mountains and arid deserts, encapsulating the diverse range of landscapes that define the American West.
Petra Cortright's video work ventures into dreamlike landscapes, eluding, again, to the landscapes of California and Montana. Created on a 3D terrain building program, she immerses herself in these virtual environments, leading viewers on a brief and enigmatic journey. The ray of sunlight carries a spiritual undertone, symbolising a connection to the divine and a recurrent theme of looking upwards for answers, atonement, or contemplation, while inviting viewers to interpret and reflect, and allowing space for individual contemplation.
Petra Cortright (b. 1986, Santa Barbara, CA) is an American digital painter based in Los Angeles. She studied Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York (2008) and the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA (2004). Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Doota Plaza, Seoul; LIMA, Amsterdam; UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles; University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh; and Depart Foundation, Los Angeles. Cortright has also participated in numerous group exhibitions at international venues including the MoMA New York; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Ludwig Museum, Budapest; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; KM – Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal; New Museum, New York; 12th Biennale de Lyon, Lyon; and SJ01 Biennial, San Jose.
