Petra Cortright’s work exemplifies the practice of digital art that questions the interaction between virtual and physical space. Cortright is an emblem of the new generation of artists that grew up alongside digital technology and the internet and shares in the opinions of contemporary artists, such as Wade Guyton, in her appreciation of this virtual medium. In a similar manner she has managed to move beyond the medium of jpegs, online programming and YouTube to incorporate elements of this online experience into conceptual practice.
Her most recent works feature paintings on three different mediums: aluminum, silk and polyester. The images are created using Photoshop and are developed through a wide range of actions; including layering, blending, mirroring, copying, erasing, inverting, smudging and mixing. The paintings on silk are taken from her webcam video stills and represent the physical element of her virtual work. ‘The nice thing about doing these paintings on aluminum or silk is that once things leave the digital realm, I have no control—I can’t make these things with my own hands, but that is why it’s so nice—to be able to go beyond what you can do as just one person and produce beautiful things with the help of professionals.’
The present lot, Untitled, 2011, is a digital painting on satin. The qualities of this chosen medium allow for it to be hung slack from its top corners. The soft, translucent strokes of the painting billow across the fabric in ways that reflect the qualities of the material itself as well as its pictorial content. The depicted palm tree represents movement in the swaying leaves and this dynamism is also portrayed in the cloudlike formations loosely depicted in the lower central section of the piece. Cortright’s work seems to reflect ease and consequence in both concept and technique: ‘my stuff is so flexible’, and thus, in her adaptability, successfully manages to merge technology with individual, artistic inspiration.