Facetune Portraits | Oil Paintings in the Age of AI

Facetune Portraits is a limited series of unique oil paintings created by artist Gretchen Andrew, blending traditional mediums with contemporary digital tools such as AI, algorithms, and robotics. At the core of this series lies a pressing cultural question: Who are we, when technology constantly tells us who we should be?

Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits explore identity, technology, and art through oil paintings made with AI, algorithms, and robotics.

This body of work doesn’t seek to glorify technology or AI’s ability to generate images. Instead, it reclaims tools often associated with superficial beauty edits and mass-production, transforming them into a means of artistic resistance. By reinterpreting pixel manipulation through paint, Facetune Portraits disrupts the narrative of algorithmic perfection.

Each piece reflects the tension between human identity and technological influence. Just as Facetune reshapes a face to align with an idealized digital standard, these oil paintings reveal the cost of such manipulation — the distortions, the loss of nuance, the rewriting of symbols. Rather than concealing imperfections, the work foregrounds them as part of the truth.

Unlike AI-generated art, which often feels formulaic or detached, Facetune Portraits thrives on unpredictability, intentionality, and humanity. By incorporating robotics and algorithmic processes alongside paint, Andrew demonstrates how art can exist within — yet push back against — the algorithmic systems shaping our culture.

These portraits are not just visual experiments; they are cultural critiques. They ask viewers to confront how digital tools reshape not only our appearances but also our identities, values, and sense of self. The “glitch” is not a flaw but part of the artwork’s meaning — a reminder that digital perfection always carries consequences.

Through Facetune Portraits | Oil Paintings in the Age of AI, Andrew shows that art in the digital age is not about surrendering to technology, but about reclaiming it as a site of dialogue, resistance, and imagination.

For the full article spotlight on Gretchen Andrew and her work, visit Purple Haze Magazine: Spotlight on Gretchen Andrew