Gretchen Bender, 53; Artist Worked in Photography, Film

Gretchen Bender, 53, an artist who worked in several mediums of photography and film and whose work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Pompidou Center in Paris, died Sunday of cancer at her home in Manhattan.

According to an obituary in Friday’s New York Times, Bender “combined aspects of Conceptual Art and Pop Art ... [and] used images of popular culture to dissect its powerful codes, especially regarding gender and sexuality.”

Born in Seaford, Del., Bender earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina in 1973. She moved to New York City in 1978 and had her first Manhattan gallery show in 1983. Her early work was a combination of varied images from abstract art, advertising and photography.

Bender’s work outside the mainstream art world included directing music videos for such acts as Babes in Toyland and Martha Wash and editing music videos for R.E.M., New Order and Megadeath. She also designed sets for choreographers, including Bill T. Jones.

Her work was shown locally at the Meyers/Bloom Gallery in Santa Monica in 1989.