Narcissism 

Alex Gross painted "Narcissism" using oils and canvas. This isn't about old-school craftsmanship, but about a critical reflection on consumerism and contemporary culture. The smooth, almost glossy surfaces are achieved through layering and blending, techniques that simulate the slickness of advertising. The artist uses the same kind of refined labor as classical portraiture to make a very different point. What’s being portrayed is a contemporary obsession with the self, manifested in constant consumption. Each figure is lost in his own world of commodities – smartphones, sugary drinks, fast food – all painted with painstaking realism. The repetitive nature of the composition drives home the point about the endless cycle of desire and consumption in contemporary life. Gross uses these familiar, everyday objects not just as props, but as symbols of a society driven by image and instant gratification. Ultimately, he questions what it means to be an individual in a world saturated with mass-produced goods and images, blurring the line between art and social critique.