Gretchen Andrew

Gretchen Andrew grew up in New Hampshire. She studied Information Systems at Boston College where she attended on a track scholarship.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-frieze-gretchen-andrew-20190214-htmlstory.html|title=Hack the Frieze Los Angeles art fair? This painter says she's done it |last=Womack |first= Catherine |website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-02-23|df=mdy-all}}{{Cite web |last=Brenner |first=Rebecca |date=2025-05-12 |title=Park City artist exposes AI beauty filters in ‘Facetune Portraits’ |url=https://townlift.com/2025/05/park-city-artist-exposes-ai-beauty-filters-in-facetune-portraits/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=TownLift, Park City News |language=en-US}} Describing her degree she has said, "Information systems is all about how companies use technology for competitive advantage...translated into art, I'm asking how I can use information to create meaning."{{Cite web|url=https://hyperallergic.com/484599/a-net-artist-takes-over-the-google-image-search-of-frieze-los-angeles/|title=A Net Artist Takes Over the Google Image Search of "Frieze Los Angeles" |date=2019-02-13|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-23|df=mdy-all}}

Andrew worked in Silicon Valley at both Intuit and Google. After working there from 2010 to 2012, she left Google to become a painter. She has claimed to have developed her artistic technique by watching how to videos on YouTube. The idea that one can learn about all topics on the Internet was the motto of her artistic series "How to How to How to".

From 2012 to 2017 she apprenticed with London-based figurative painter Billy Childish who is still her mentor.{{Cite web|url=https://news.artnet.com/market/frieze-los-angeles-gretchen-andrew-1462594|title=How One 'Search Engine Artist' Hacked Her Paintings Into Frieze Los Angeles's Google Results|date=2019-02-12|website=artnet News|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-23|df=mdy-all}}

In 2020 she moved to Park City, Utah.{{Cite web |last=Brenner |first=Rebecca |date=2025-05-12 |title=Park City artist exposes AI beauty filters in ‘Facetune Portraits’ |url=https://townlift.com/2025/05/park-city-artist-exposes-ai-beauty-filters-in-facetune-portraits/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=TownLift, Park City News |language=en-US}}

From 2018 - 2023 Gretchen Andrew's paintings explored and manipulated the functioning of ad technology such as search engines, particularly Google Search.

Her first search engine art piece occurred accidentally when she would copy Billy Childish's paintings and title them as "After Billy Childish". Since internet technology was unable to grasp the nuance between original and facsimile, her versions popped up first when she searched for his paintings online.{{cite news |title=How to build the next American president |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/11/02/how-to-build-the-next-american-president |access-date=16 May 2022 |work=The Art Newspaper - International art news and events |date=2 November 2020}}

In 2018 Gretchen's work then focused on the political and social impact of search technology, exploring in a paper with The British Computer Society the implications for artificial intelligence.

In 2018 she coined the term "search engine art" in a book she co-authored with Irini Papadimitriou through V&A Digital Futures.

In February 2019 Gretchen Andrew used her Internet Imperialism process to convince Google Image Search that images of her artwork are the most important visual content related to Frieze Los Angeles, the much-hyped international art fair. The digital performance brought her prominence with The Los Angeles Times, Hyperallergic, artnet, and others reporting on Gretchen and her practice.

She has manipulated the search results using search engine optimization techniques for the terms "powerful person", "made for women", and "frieze Los Angeles", among others.{{Cite web |url= https://artillerymag.com/gretchen-andrew-searching-for-different-truths/|title=Gretchen Andrew: Searching for Different Truths|date=2018-09-05|website=Artillery Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-26|df=mdy-all}} Her paintings and search engine art are said to relate to the art world in an aspirational way.

In 2023, she was part of the curatorial team of the Santa Monica Art Museum founded by art collector and businessman Christoph Rahofer and her work was included in the exhibition Looking West.{{Cite web |title=Santa Monica Art Museum {{!}} 'Looking West' |url=https://flaunt.com/post/smam-looking-west |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=flaunt.com}}{{Cite web |title=Santa Monica Art Museum Debuts During Frieze Week |url=https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/museum-debuts-during-frieze-week/5680 |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Westall |first=Mark |date=2023-02-09 |title=New 7,000 sqft museum opens in Santa Monica in time for Frieze L.A. |url=https://fadmagazine.com/2023/02/09/new-7000-sqft-museum-opens-in-santa-monica-in-time-for-frieze-l-a/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=FAD Magazine |language=en-GB}}

Introduced in September 2024 at Berlin Art Week,{{Cite web |title=Art and Aperitivo in the City Centre |url=https://berlinartweek.de/en/tour/art-and-aperitivo-in-the-city-centre/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Berlin Art Week |language=en}}{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/rbbkultur/getunte-gesichter-von-gretchen-andrew/rbb/Y3JpZDovL3JiYl9mMzcwMWJiYS0xYjQxLTRhMGMtOTllZi1lM2U4ZThmY2ZlMmJfcHVibGljYXRpb24 |title=rbbKultur: 'Getunte Gesichter' von Gretchen Andrew - hier anschauen |language=de |access-date=2025-06-15 |via=www.ardmediathek.de}} Facetune Portraits is a limited series of unique oil paintings made using AI, algorithms and robotics to address questions about who humans are in relationship to who technology tells them they should be.{{Cite web |last=admin |date=2025-05-15 |title=SPOTLIGHT ON {{!}} Gretchen Andrew |url=https://purplehazemag.com/2025/05/15/spotlight-on-gretchen-andrew/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Purplehazemag |language=de}}{{Cite web |last=Brenner |first=Rebecca |date=2025-05-12 |title=Park City artist exposes AI beauty filters in ‘Facetune Portraits’ |url=https://townlift.com/2025/05/park-city-artist-exposes-ai-beauty-filters-in-facetune-portraits/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=TownLift, Park City News |language=en-US}} Martin Robinson of The Standard called the result, "chilling and poignant work."{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=Martin |date=2025-04-27 |title=AI versus women: the artist showing how tech 'corrects' female bodies |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/exhibitions/ai-women-gretchen-andrew-b1224458.html |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=The Standard |language=en}}

Gretchen Andrew's Facetune Portraits Universal Beauty series is described as a searing critique of the global standardization of beauty where the artist both utilizes and interrogates technology, serving as a meditation on the medium itself.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-10 |title=In New York, Heft Gallery Brings Curatorial Rigor to New Media Art |url=https://observer.com/2025/06/heft-hallery-new-york-adam-heft-berninger-interview/ |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=Observer |language=en-US}} The works are created by taking images of contestants from Miss Universe and applying popular apps such as Facetune and Body Tune to “enhance” the image using AI. The artist then uses an oil paint printer developed by Matr Labs to produce the unmodified image in oil paint. While still wet the painting is put through an XY-axis drawing robot that is instructed by the discrepancies between the original image and an AI-modified (facetuned) version. The robot adds brushstrokes where lines have changed thus visually highlighting the AI’s alterations.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-06 |title=How Gretchen Andrew’s AI art is revealing the societal scars of ‘facetuning’ |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/06/06/how-gretchen-andrews-ai-work-is-revealing-the-societal-scars-of-facetuning |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=www.theartnewspaper.com |language=en}} The artist has cited Frank Auerbach and Alberto Giacometti, who depict multiple perspectives, as inspiration for the visual, painterly nature of the resulting work.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-06 |title=How Gretchen Andrew’s AI art is revealing the societal scars of ‘facetuning’ |url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/06/06/how-gretchen-andrews-ai-work-is-revealing-the-societal-scars-of-facetuning |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=www.theartnewspaper.com |language=en}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.gretchenandrew.com/ Official website]
• [https://www.mozillapulse.org/entry/886 Gretchen Andrew's Collection "Made for Women"]

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Category:1988 births

Category:American women artists

Category:Artists from Los Angeles

Category:Boston College alumni

Category:Internet art

Category:Living people

Category:Painters from London

Category:21st-century American women painters

Category:21st-century American painters