{"id":14415,"date":"2021-02-04T12:32:53","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T11:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dam.org\/museum\/?post_type=artists_ui&p=14415"},"modified":"2026-07-04T13:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:42:22","slug":"cortright-petra","status":"publish","type":"artists_ui","link":"https:\/\/dam.org\/museum\/artists_ui\/artists\/cortright-petra\/","title":{"rendered":"Petra Cortright"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_tabs tabs_align=”center” css_animation=”fade-up” el_class=”tab”][vc_tab title=”Petra Cortright” tab_id=”1589893367311-4-6″ el_class=”artist_portfolio_name”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”14414″ img_size=”full” css=”” full_width=”1″ opacity=”100″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]Petra Cortright is one of the most successful artists of the group identified with Post-Internet art. She came to prominence for her video vvebcam<\/em> (2007) and other similar works posted on YouTube, in which she plays with an amateurish aesthetic and the persona of a \u201ccam-girl.\u201d Since the early 2010s, she has gradually shifted to creating digital paintings by combining images and brushstrokes in the digital imaging software Photoshop.<\/p>\n

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Website of Petra Cortright:
\nwww.petracortright.com<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_tab][vc_tab title=”Artworks” tab_id=”1589891935-1-30″ el_class=”tab2″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”14414,14413″ img_size=”medium” css=”” slides_per_view=”1″ hover_effect=”opacity” pause_on_hover=”false” slideshow_speed=”6000″ nav_arrows=”false” nav_dots_tone=”dark”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_tab][vc_tab title=”Biography” tab_id=”1589891935-2-34″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”14416″ img_size=”full” css=”” full_width=”1″ opacity=”100″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]Santa Barbara, CA (USA), 1986<\/p>\n

Petra Cortright attended the California College of the Arts, San Francisco between 2004 and 2006, completing her studies in Fine Arts at the Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York, in 2008. Still a student, she attracted the attention of media outlets, art critics, and journalists with vvebcam<\/em> (2007), a webcam video posted on YouTube in which she looks at her computer screen and tests different digital effects. The artist added a series of keywords to the video that included banal and offensive terms, and engaged in heated discussions with commenters. Because of the use of such keywords, the artwork was removed by YouTube in 2010 and has been later reconstructed and stored in Rhizome\u2019s Net Art Anthology. In the following years, Cortright came to be known for a series of similar videos which led her to gain recognition in the contemporary art world. In 2012, the contemporary art magazine Artforum featured her work in an article by Bruce Sterling, who described her as a \u201ctwentysomething Millennial cam-girl.\u201d The next year, her video RGB, D-LA<\/em>Y (2011) was offered at the Paddles ON! auction, organized by the online platform Paddle 8 and the auction house Phillips in New York. This auction received considerable attention from the media, which contributed to generate interest on her work and that of other young artists such as Rafa\u00ebl Rozendaal or Addie Wagenknecht. Also in 2013, Cortright was selected to participate in the Frieze Art Fair in London with her video Bridal Shower<\/em> (2013), and in 2014 she collaborated with fashion designer Stella McCartney creating several videos in which she modelled McCartney\u2019s designs.<\/p>\n

While Cortright\u2019s success in the contemporary art world was initially fueled by her videos and her \u201ccam-girl\u201d persona, her work gradually shifted to digital painting, which has established her name in the art market. At the Paddles ON! auction, her digital prints were more successful than her videos. This was also true for other artists who sold both digital prints and video or web-based artworks in a sale where, according to journalist Marina Galperina, buyers seemed more interested in works that were similar to painting. Cortright\u2019s digital prints later became part of regular auctions at Phillips, reaching considerably high prices as her work gained greater attention among collectors, particularly Stefan Simchowitz, who has been a prominent supporter of the artist since the beginning of her career. Her digital paintings, created by meticulously layering images and brushstrokes in the digital imaging software Photoshop, have become the most identifiable output of her work, leading journalist Charlotte Jansen to describe her as \u201cthe Monet of the 21st Century.\u201d Cortright currently combines digital painting and video in a series of works that display the process of creating her compositions.<\/p>\n

Petra Cortright has been represented by the Steve Turner Contemporary art gallery (Los Angeles) and later on by Foxy Production (New York). Her works are in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; The P\u00e9r\u00e9z Museum, Miami; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; MOCA Los Angeles; Rhizome\u2019s Net Art Anthology; MOTI, Breda, in collaboration with Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MCA Chicago; Kadist Foundation, Paris, San Francisco; BAMPFA, Berkeley, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose; MOCA Los Angeles; and Rhizome\u2019s Net Art Anthology, New York.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_tab][vc_tab title=”References” tab_id=”1612438158311-3-5″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”14413″ img_size=”full” css=”” full_width=”1″ opacity=”100″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]Petra Cortright\u2019s YouTube channel<\/a><\/p>\n

Petra Cortright’s VVEBCAM<\/em> (2007) at the Net Art Anthology<\/a>. Rhizome<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Jansen, C. (2016). Petra Cortright Is the Monet of the 21st Century<\/a>. Artsy<\/em>. [EN]<\/p>\n

Sterling, B. (2012). Close-Up: Data Mine<\/a>. Artforum<\/em>, September 2012, p.492-93. [EN]<\/p>\n

Sterling, B. (2018). The Ephemera Mine<\/a>. Rhizome<\/em>. [EN][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_tab][\/vc_tabs][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_tabs tabs_align=”center” css_animation=”fade-up” el_class=”tab”][vc_tab title=”Petra Cortright” tab_id=”1589893367311-4-6″ el_class=”artist_portfolio_name”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”14414″ img_size=”full” css=”” full_width=”1″ opacity=”100″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]Petra Cortright is one of the most successful artists of the group identified with Post-Internet art. She came to prominence for her video vvebcam (2007) and other similar works posted on YouTube, in which she plays with an amateurish aesthetic and…<\/p>\n

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