All Posts

We explore how AI, technology and search engines shape her work, and how she once hacked search engines to appear at the top of Frieze LA results. Find out more about her work: www.gretchenandrew.com

A Love Letter to Our Imperfect, Un-Filterable Selves We live in a world that increasingly pressures us toward digital perfection. Filters, editing tools, and algorithms encourage us to erase every flaw, every wrinkle, every reminder that we are human. But my work, Facetune Portraits , moves in the opposite direction. These paintings are a love letter to our gloriously imperfect, un-filterable selves.  Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  celebrates the beauty of imperfecti

Technology offers us a seductive promise: a perfect self. With just a swipe or a filter, our faces can be reshaped, our flaws erased, our identities streamlined into something algorithmically approved. But what happens to us when perfection is always one edit away? Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  captures the tension between the promise of technological perfection and the reality of human imperfection. Facetune Portraits  is my response to that question. Using oil paint

A Conversation with Melissa Johnson What happens when artificial intelligence begins to decide what beauty looks like — and who gets to...

Gretchen Andrew's Journey to The Whitney It’s official. The Whitney Museum of American Art has acquired two of my Facetune Portraits ....

Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  merges classical oil painting with the anxieties of digital self-presentation. Where 17th-Century...

Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  uses oil paint to reveal the invisible scars of social media. Making the Invisible Scars of Social...

Being Seen for Who We Are: A Conversation on Beauty, Authenticity, and Healing I recently had the opportunity to join Savannah Rose...

When we ask “what is digital art?” , we’re talking about a field with over half a century of history . Far from being a passing trend,...

Why are lip fillers so popular? It has to do with ancient Egypt and our cell phones.

When Algorithms Become the Beholders of Beauty  For centuries, the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” has celebrated the subjectivity of beauty—each person holding a unique perspective on what is attractive, meaningful, or worthy of admiration. But in the digital age, that beholder has shifted. Increasingly, it isn’t people who define beauty—it’s algorithms. Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  asks what happens when algorithms, not humans, decide what is beautifu

What Happens When Universal Beauty Makes Us All Look the Same? We live in an era where beauty is no longer organic—it’s coded. With just a few taps, filters and editing tools can smooth, slim, and standardize our faces into a version of “perfect” that’s algorithm-approved. But my work, Facetune Portraits , asks: what happens when that same standard of beauty makes us all look the same? Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits question what’s left when “universal” beauty erases in

The pursuit of perfection has never been more accessible—or more relentless. With a swipe of a filter or the touch of an app, flaws disappear, features sharpen, and humanity is streamlined into a version deemed “better” by algorithms. But what happens when we start erasing too much?  In a world of digital perfection, Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  make a case for imperfection as the essence of human truth. Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  challenge this cycle by c

Facetune was designed to be intuitive for people—to smooth skin, brighten eyes, and subtly “perfect” portraits. But what happens when a machine takes control of that same system? This question sits at the heart of Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits.  By exploring how robots interpret Facetune, the work exposes how deeply cultural assumptions are baked into algorithmic processes. The robot doesn’t simply “see” beauty; it sees patterns, hierarchies, and a coded set of values.

The art world is not known for speed. Acquisitions, reviews, and curatorial decisions often unfold slowly, over months or years. But sometimes, a work arrives that disrupts this rhythm—demanding recognition before the first visitor even steps into the gallery.  A major institution made its move early, acquiring two of Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  before the exhibition even began. This was the case with Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits,  acquired by a major instit

When we scroll through social media, technology quietly shapes our sense of self. Filters suggest smoother skin, sharper jawlines, brighter eyes. Apps like Facetune normalize perfection as if it were a default setting. But what happens when art refuses to comply? Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  are painted arguments against digital correction. Each work carries the marks of a disagreement with what technology insists we should look like. In her studio, Gretchen layers p

In an age where digital filters and apps like Facetune dictate how we present ourselves, Gretchen Andrew turns the conversation back toward authenticity. Inside the Studio: The Making of Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits Her Facetune Portraits  series, now part of the Whitney Museum’s permanent collection, explores what happens when the quest for digital perfection collides with the vulnerability of the painted surface.  A behind-the-scenes look at Gretchen Andrew’s creati

“Sometimes, the most beautiful thing is the part the algorithm tries to erase.” This tagline captures the spirit of Gretchen Andrew’s Facetune Portraits  and invites us to reconsider how we define beauty in an age of filters and algorithms. Social media tools are built to smooth away wrinkles, blur imperfections, and hide what doesn’t align with curated standards of perfection. Yet what disappears is often what makes us unique. “Sometimes, the most beautiful thing is the part

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

I’ve always been fascinated by how digital manipulation reshapes not only our appearances but also the symbols that surround us. In my Facetune-based artworks of Miss Universe contestants, one detail sparks a lot of curiosity: Why are the letters on the sash so wonky? The Miss Unicerse Sash Distortion The answer lies in the process itself. Every time I move pixels in Facetune—dragging, stretching, reshaping a face to reflect algorithmic beauty standards—the sash warps. Its ty