Photoshop CS: 50 by 50 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels,

Cory Arcangel, Photoshop CS: 50 by 50 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, , 2013, chromogenic print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2014.8, © Cory Arcangel. Image courtesy of Cory Arcangel.

In this image from the artist’s series of Photoshop Gradient Demonstrations, Cory Arcangel toys with the novelties of consumer technology and how fantastically they age. The title of this unique print lists the step-by-step instructions for its creation using the popular computer software program, Photoshop. When brand new, consumer electronics generally include a set of basic instructions, in this case for making a work of contemporary art. The instructions themselves are rendered as a conceptual element. His demonstration folds easily accessible consumer technologies into the often inaccessible nature of contemporary art, both of which progress toward an eventual clumsiness and obsolescence.

Watch This!: Revelations in Media Art, 2015

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Photoshop CS: 50 by 50 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient “Blue, Yellow, Blue”, mousedown y=2000 x=1500, mouseup y=9350 x=1650; tool “Wand”, select y=5000, x=2000, tolerance=32, contiguous= off; default gradient “Spectrum”, mousedown y=8050 x=8700, mouseup y=3600 x=5050

Artist