Gucci 

Alex Gross created this oil painting of a Gucci advertisement, sometime after 1968. The painting presents us with an unsettling view of contemporary commercial culture. The Gucci logo hovers above a fashionably dressed woman in a surreal landscape. Decapitated heads litter the lawn, staring blankly. Gross is part of a west coast art movement that emerged in the late 20th century. These artists critique consumerism and global capitalism. Art historians might see this as a continuation of the pop art of Andy Warhol, but with a darker, more dystopian tone. The floating heads and uncanny atmosphere also resonate with surrealist art from the interwar period. But in this case, rather than exploring the unconscious mind, the imagery reflects our disoriented state in the face of twenty-first century advertising. To understand the painting fully, we might research the history of advertising, the rise of global luxury brands, and the psychological effects of consumer culture. We can see that art provides a lens for understanding the complex social and economic forces that shape our lives.