b. 1978 Buffalo, New York

Cory Arcangel creates playful conceptual works that investigate technology’s implicit promise of an infinitely improvable future. In Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK Plasma Screen Burn (2007), Arcangel exploits a flaw in flat-screen plasma televisions wherein an image becomes “burned” into the screen if it is displayed for an extended period. Here, a standard wall label (artist, title, materials, dimensions, provenance) slowly fuses with the plasma screen on which it is displayed, simultaneously rendering the television useless, and transforming it into a piece of sculpture. In Photoshop CS: 110 by 72 inches, 300 DPI, RGB, square pixels, default gradient “Spectrum”, mousedown y=1416 x=1000, mouse up y=208 x=42 (2009), Arcangel has created a classic modernist abstraction by adopting the readymade color spectrum found in the program Adobe Photoshop. With a nod towards DIY movements and Internet advocates of information freedom, as well as an ironic wink directed at the pseudo-mystical undertones of 1950s abstraction, exact instructions on how to reproduce the piece are included as part of the work’s title.