Petra Cortright
June 21 - October 10, 2025 | Zeughaus Teufen, Switzerland
Petra Cortright looks at the Appenzellerland with a keen feeling for digital aesthetics and the courage to beauty - without ever having been there. The starting point of her new series of works is the image database of Appenzellerland Tourismus AR with more than a thousand photographs that reflect the visual self-image of a region between staging and idyll. The entrance was given to the artist on 1. June 2023. Cortright, one of the most important voices of digital painting, feeds these images into her personal archive of brushes, filters and textures. This results in projections, textile views and, for the first time, works on wood – shimmering, multi-layered compositions that are reminiscent of impressionistic landscapes but are produced purely digitally. Her works are considered a contemporary counterpart to Monet: it paints quickly, directly, with Sofiware instead of paint. What emerges is a radical view of our own - not critically, but lovingly: "For the first time, I cannot make the pictures more beautiful," said Cortright in the zoomcall, "the reality with you is already too beautiful." A plea for beauty – and for a new vision.