Collection: Gretchen Bender

Gretchen Bender (1951–2004) was an American artist whose work engaged directly with the saturation of television, advertising and mass media in contemporary life, using appropriated footage, multilayered video projection and printed imagery to expose the mechanics of spectacle and information overload. A key figure in the Pictures Generation and the East Village art scene of the 1980s, she exhibited at Metro Pictures and produced large-scale media installations that anticipated subsequent debates around screen culture. Her work has been the subject of renewed critical attention and retrospective exhibitions at institutions including the Contemporary Art Museum Houston.