Confronting Conformity by Sophia Shuvalova

The painting is illustrating the concept of conformity and on some level obedience with the use of similar looking females gazing thoughtlessly in one direction. The female at the front, however, is looking straight at the viewer, puzzled; and although bold and green with her shoulders exposed like the rest of them, she looks as if she has just taken the first step towards individuality, but the numbness and confusion in her expression shows that the battle is never really won.
Strong lighting and theatrical set-up makes the scene very dramatic in its goal to both have a powerful impact on the audience in communicating the horrors of conformity and the never ending sadness at the reality of the impossibility of real resistance, and respond to classical tradition. It combines the timeless techniques with the new important ideas as the subject of conformity becomes ever more relevant in the modern world.