Petra Cortright

Steve Turner Contemporary is pleased to present ✖✗✘ BLank BLANk bLANk •・∘, Los Angeles-based artist Petra Cortright’s first solo exhibition at the gallery featuring webcam videos, flash animations and paintings on aluminum, silk and polyester. Cortright created all of the works on her computer, and they will be interspersed throughout the gallery. Cortright has said that all she needs to make work is a computer and that all the tools and content she needs are available on the internet. Whatever the program, she only uses the default settings, thereby avoiding invention while championing reuse.

Of the mediums in ✖✗✘ BLank BLANk bLANk •・∘, Cortright has been making webcam videos the longest. They range in duration from 15 to 90 seconds and they are all self-portraits entirely free of post-production editing. She periodically uploads new works to YouTube with the number of viewers determining the value of each work. The price list for this exhibition might, therefore, be the first to state: “Check the internet for pricing.”

Cortright’s flash animations consist of content downloaded hundreds of times from disparate websites, for example, strippers in fantasy landscapes with unicorns, chirping birds and mooing cows. She reformats the images into one seamless never-ending animation.

Cortright’s most recent works are paintings printed on three mediums—aluminum, silk and polyester. Using Photoshop, she has created fantasy landscapes on aluminum consisting of scores of layers. The imagery is developed through a wide range of actions, including hiding, erasing, mirroring, copying, pasting, inverting, blending, smudging, blurring and mixing. The paintings on silk are images of Cortright that were taken from her webcam video stills, while the thick polyester flags are like a contemporary sampler of paint effects.

Petra Cortright (born Santa Barbara, 1986) completed a semester of study at the California College for the Arts, San Francisco and nearly two years at Parsons, New York before she realized that she was not suited for a formal education. She is part of a new generation of artists that grew up with computers, digital technology and the internet—she had her first computer at the age of one. She started to present work on the internet at age fifteen and has been one of the best known and most widely exhibited internet artists over the last decade. In the last few years, Cortright has also earned acclaim for her exhibitions in brick-and-mortar galleries. She has moved beyond just jpegs, websites and YouTube and has begun to incorporate elements of the online experience into her conceptual practice.

Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including the Internet Pavillion at the Venice Biennale (2009); the San Jose Biennial (2010); the Biennale de Lyon (2013) and Frieze Film (2013).

Born in 1986, Petra Cortright first gained notoriety as an internet artist but more recently has earned acclaim for the works she has exhibited in brick-and-mortar galleries. She has moved beyond just jpegs, websites and YouTube and has begun to incorporate elements of the online experience into her conceptual practice.

Cortright’s work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including the Internet Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2009), the San Jose Biennial (2010), and the Biennale de Lyon (2013). She and her 2012 e-book, HELL_TREE were profiled with a Close-Up article by Bruce Sterling in the September 2012 issue of ArtForum. She has also had solo exhibitions at Club Midnight, Berlin and Preteen Gallery, Mexico City and currently has a solo exhibition on view at Steve Turner Contemporary.

Born 1986, Santa Barbara
Lives and works in Los Angeles

Education

California College of the Arts, San Francisco
Parsons The New School for Design, New York

Solo and Two Person Exhibitions

2013
✖✗✘ BLank BLANk bLANk •・∘, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles

2012
VICKY DEEP IN SPRING VALLEY, Club Midnight, Berlin
Void Mastery / Blank Control, The Composing Rooms: The Green Room, London
Video Syrup, Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn (curated by Maggie Lee)

2011
Beholder, Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, Scotland
SO WET, Preteen Gallery, Mexico City

2010
It Takes Strength to be Gentle and Kind, GLORIAMARIAgallery, Milan
Avatar 4D, NOMA Gallery, curated by JstChillin, San Francisco

Selected Group Exhibitions

2014
Soccer: The Beautiful Game,Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (upcoming)
Frieze Film, Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Troy, New York (upcoming)

2013
D, ZweiDrei, Berlin
Frieze Film, Frieze London (curated by Nicola Lees and Victoria Brooks)
Meanwhile…Suddenly and Then, 12thBiennale de Lyon, France
Lonely Girl, Martos Gallery, New York (curated by Asher Penn)
Sneakerotics: Further Material for a Theory of the Young-Girl, Edouard Malingue Gallery (curated by Robin Peckham)
Art Baja Tijuana, Casa GS, Tijuana, Mexico
Things That Turn Your Brains to Mush, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara
ZonaMACO, Steve Turner Contemporary, Mexico City

2012
E-Vapor-8, 319 Scholes, Brooklyn (curated by Francesca Gavin)
Ex-Girlfriends in the Age of Drones, Naherholung Sternchen, Berlin (curated by Una Tittel)

2011
Banal Inferno, CCA: The Center of Contemporary Arts, Galow (curated by Benjamin Fallon)
December, De Joode & Kamutzki Winter Auction 2011, Berlin
SPAMM (Super Art Modern Museum), http://spamm.fr/, (curated by Thomas Cheneseau)
LikeArtBasel, Miami Art Basel @ Workshop Collective, Miami (sponsored by Artspace; organized by OKFocus; HORENSETEIN+ and Daniel Leyva; curatd by Ryder Ripps)
Notes on a New Nature, 319 Scholes, Brooklyn (curated by Nicholas O’Brien)
Lesbian Kiss Episode, Planet Ummo Project Space, Mexico City
LuckyPDFTV, Frieze Art Fair, London (curated by LuckyPDF)
LAFIAC.com 2011, 38th edition of the FIAC, Paris
PDF, Allegra LaViola Gallery, New York (curated by Patrick Gantert)
Empty Orchestra, Eastside Projects at Birmingham Contemporary Art Forum, Birmingham (curated by Georgie Park & Samuel Rodgers)
Collect the WWWorld. The Artist as Archivist in the Internet Age, Settimana dell’Arte, Brescia, Italy (curated by Domenico Quaranta)
Life on the Screen, RE/Mixed Media Festival, New York (curated by Perry Bard)
La imagen transitada, arte y nuevos medios, Espai Cultural Caja Madrid, Barcelona (curated by Andy Davies)
KEEPIN’IT REAL, HungryMan Gallery, Chicago (curated by Robin Juan)
3 Screenings: Eruption, Backspace Collective, Peoria, Illinois (curated Eric Fleischauser and Jesse McLean)
VIDEO VILLAGE 2011: New Media Expeditions, INDEX ART CENTER, New Jersey (curated by Noah Collier and Stephanie Szerlip)
Life on the Screen, Joyce Yahouda Gallery, Montreal (curated by Perry Bard)
Internet Livre – Free Internet, SESC Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo (curated by Renan Araujo)
Minimize BOCA #1 BOZEAU ORTEGA CONTEMPORARY ARTS
Graphics Interchange Format, Mulberry Gallery, Denison University, Ohio (curated by Paddy Johnson)
Getting Closer, Fe Arts Gallery, Pittsburg
Internet Livre, SESC Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo

2010
BYOB LA, Gayle & Ed Roski MFA Gallery at University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Sister Sister City, Thomas Solomon Gallery @ Cottage Home, Los Angeles (curated by Lindsay Lawson)
Domain: Webkam Performance, Live Performance in collaboration with Rhizome.org, SJ01 Biennial, San Jose, CA
Do I Know You, Inman Gallery, Houston
Today and Tomorrow’s 5th Birthday SPEED SHOW, or@nin net Internet cafe, Berlin
Made in Internet, ARTBOOK Festival, curated by Marcin Ramocki, Krakow, Poland
VHS AIDS, Preteen Gallery, Hermosillo, Mexico
Multiplex, Peer to Space Sun Galleries, Munich (curated by VVORK)
TITS VAGINA SEX NUDE BOOBS BRITNEY SPEARS PARIS HILTON JORDAN CAPRI HONEY MOON, Preteen Gallery, Mexico City
Remember 2010?, The Gallery Space, www.thegalleryspace.info
Surfing Club, plug.in gallery, Basel
Surfing Club, Espace Multimedia Gantner, Bourogne, France
MiARt Art Now!, Milan Art Fair, Gloria Maria Gallery booth, Milan
Brakhage Symposium, Boulder, Colorado
Playlist, Neoncampobase, Bologna, Italy
PRETEEN GALLERY @ CIRCA LABS, Puerto Rico
Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Showroom Mama, Rotterdam
2009 No Hay Banda, Reference Gallery, Richmond
Funny Games, Load of Fun, Baltimore
Spun 2: art light noise new video art, Monkeytown, Brooklyn
The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths, Rapture Heap, Liberty Corner, Dublin
My Biennale Is Better Than Yours, Xth Biennale de Lyon, France
Screen Grab, The Nightingale Theater, Chicago
Speed Conference Call Dating, Envoy Enterprises, New York
SALLYS, Atelier Kreuzberg, Berlin
PROMO Billboard, Np3. Groningen, Holland
New Wave, The Internet Pavilion, The Venice Biennale, Venice
The New Easy, Artnews Projects, Berlin
VVork Show, Munich
Are You Sure You Are You?, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York
Forms of Melncholy, Sego Art Center, Provo, Utah
Treasure Room, (Loshadka) Light Industry, Brooklyn
IRL presented by iheartphotograph (Loshadka) Capricious Space, Brooklyn
Rhizome’s The Long Gallery, 7 x 7 Series, Why Wherefore, whyandwherefore.com
Women Get Fucked, Alogon Gallery, Chicago
Need Cover Page, Neen.org
Endelss Pot of Gold, CD-Rs (Nasty Nets) Sundance International Film Festival

2008
Show #20: Peter Barrickman + Petra Cortright, And/ Or Gallery, Dallas
This is a Magazine: Episode 26, (Loshadka), Milan
The New Easy, Amsterdam
Club Internet, K.I.S.S., http://www.clubinternet.org/August
NETMARES/ NETDREAMS V 3.0, Current Gallery, Baltimore
Young Curators, New Ideas, Bond Street Gallery, Brooklyn
This is a Magazine: Video Object 23, Milan
Build A Fire, Plexus Contemporary, Louisville, Kentucky
Lizard Gear, Loshadka at MTAA’s OTO, Brooklyn
Club Internet, FIRST SELECTION http:// www.clubinternet.org/
New York Underground Film Festival, Anthology Film Archivees, New York
B I T M A P: as good as new, Leonard Pearlstein Gallery at Drexel University, Philadelphia
Montage: Unmonumental Online, The New Museum, New York
2007 B I T M A P: as good as new, vertexList, Brooklyn
The Sims: In the Hands of Artists, Chelsea At Museum, New York
Nasty Nets Event, Telic Arts Exchange, Los Angeles

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

2013
Ugelvig, Jeppe, Frieze London | Interview with Petra Cortright, DIS magazine, October 22
Urquhart, Robert, “The Passion of Petra Cortright,” The Creators Project, October 22
Vasey, George, “Self 2 Selfie,” Art Monthly, November, No. 371
Moulon, Dominique, “Lyon Biennial and Then,” MediaArtDesign.net, November
Maloney, Jennifer, “Auction House Phillips Enters the Digital Age,” Wall Street Journal, September
Williams, Maxwell, “For Petra Cortright, the Web Is the Ultimate Canvas,” The New York Times Style Magazine, November 8
Galperina, Marina, “Frieze Art Film’s Petra Cortright Experiment: Fall in Love Here,” Animal New York, October 21
Schildhause, Chloe, “A Demonstration in Artistic Onus,” Flaunt Magazine, October 25

2012
Sterling, Bruce, “Data Mine,” ArtForum, September 2013, 492-93
Cortright, Petra, HELL_TREE, New York: Badlands Unlimited Editions, Ibook, 2012

2011
Cortright, Petra, and Franklin Collao. “RED WEB INTERNET” CAVIAR IZQUIERDA No. 4, 2011

2010
Chan, Paul, “Artist Favorites,” Spike Art Quarterly, Winter 2010

2009
Cortright, Petra, “IMG MGMT,: gRAdleNtBOW-2-your-masters” Art F City, artfagcity.com, August 2009