Hellscape Nº17, 2023

PETRA CORTRIGHT
Hellscape Nº17, 2023
18 x 23.5 inches
Archival pigment print on Canson Arches 88 Matte paper
Limited edition of 5 Hand-Embellished Prints
Limited edition of 20 Signed and numbered prints with 5 APs
All prints signed and numbered by the artist 

Petra Cortright’s core practice is the creation and distribution of digital and physical images using consumer or corporate softwares. She became renowned for making self-portrait videos that use her computer’s webcam and default effects tools, which she would then upload to YouTube and caption with spam text. Cortright’s paintings on aluminum, linen, paper, or acrylic are created in Photoshop using painting software and appropriated images, icons, and marks. The digital files are endlessly modifiable, but at a “decisive moment” they are translated into two-dimensional objects. They become finite, yet their range of motifs and marks, and their disorienting perspectives and dimensions suggest dynamic change.

Hellscape Nº17 is based on the Banner that Cortright created as a part of the For Freedoms x A Cool Million project that was on display at Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center. The invented landscape evokes the rugged scenery and wildfires of California, inspired by the basis of A Cool Million, a public arts initiative for climate awareness led by artists and institutions to expand environmental justice programming and support the conservation of one million acres of land central to the California hydrological system. 5 prints in the edition will include additional hand-painted elements, making each work unique.

Cortrights works are digital environments - almost every “element” of the work exists on its own separate layer - varying background images, mid-layers, and small detailed strokes. Her main medium is Photoshop, and she enjoys the process of sourcing images online or photographing with a cell phone or digital camera. She makes custom brushes in addition to downloading brush packs created by others, painting with varying Wacom tablets to produce different strokes.

Similar to how paint is traditionally used, Cortright creates digital underpaintings and structures to help build the work, but ultimately maintains all aspects as a record or map of how the file was constructed instead of compressing or melting into each other like an oil painting would. The artist shares “there are different paintings within the world of the file, within the “mother” file. I was very inspired by the 1956 documentary The Mystery of Picasso, that shows the evolution of his paintings and how they morph and change. The process of art making is so alive the entire time before you get to the finished piece and I want to celebrate process as well as exploit it to make a prolific amount of work.”

This print is part of a suite of limited edition prints by a diverse group of womxn-identifying artists commissioned on the occasion of Untitled Art Miami Beach 2023  in order to amplify the necessity and power of creativity in shaping inclusive civic discourse. These prints will benefit the artists and For Freedoms’ upcoming initiatives.

PLEASE NOTE: 

• Unframed prints ship within 1-3 weeks and framed prints ship within 4-6 weeks.
• International customers are responsible for all duties, taxes, and VAT fees.