I have a touch of social phobia, and I am, by nature, quite deeply introverted. That is the entire starting point for this canvas.

For me, a crowded room or a social gathering is rarely a pleasant event—it is a claustrophobic power struggle where everyone is constantly trying to position themselves, to be seen, and to be heard. The Socialites is an attempt to capture that exact white noise. I took the situation, zoomed in, and cropped the composition so aggressively that the people have fused into a single, compact, almost suffocating mass of bodies and glances.

It is a dry, direct observation of how exhausting the social game is. It is painted with a strict, graphic clarity, but it is deliberately left full of the human errors, visible brushstrokes, and running paint drips that happen when you actually drop the digital safety net and face a physical canvas.

Oil on canvas.
140 x 140 cm.