6_v211132013, 1994
Great Jones Alley
Petra Cortright was born 1986 in Santa Barbara, CA, and lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Her core practice is the creation and distribution of digital files—videos, GIFs, jpegs, and 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 uploads to YouTube.
Cortright’s paintings on aluminum, linen, paper, or acrylic are created in Photoshop using painting software and appropriated images, icons, and marks. Digital files are endlessly modifiable, but at a “decisive moment” they are translated into two-dimensional objects—finite, but with a feel of dynamic change.
