Photo By Gail

Cory Archangel explores the expressive potential of consumer software. With Photoshop Gradient and Smudge Tool Demonstration (2007 – 2023) he foregrounds Photoshop’s gradient tool, which fades one color into another. These two works, made 15 years apart, were created using similar commands. The contrast between the gestural dynamism of the earlier version and the minimalist geometry of its later counterpart reveals a trend towards reduction and simplification – contradicting common assumptions about technological advancement.

Photographed in the LA County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles.