In Fire, the fire is represented by antlers which rise from a mass of rounded, smooth pebbles which also could be body-parts. A shroud or sheet is caught on the antlers which glow red beneath it – like it has been caught on the antlers/fire while blowing freely in the wind. In Orlik’s other paintings (Dreams and Rest), the white sheet symbolises dreams and the dating of this painting in the title, 1974, is significant as it is the date of Orlik’s last exhibition at Acoris. Here the sheet is deflated, caught, whereas in Dreams it soars amongst the planets. Have the artists’ dreams been caught up (deflated/ burnt) by the experience of exhibiting and the competitive nature of the commercial artworld and the stress of selling his art (his dreams)? This has significance for Orlik’s painting, Parachutein which the deer (the mass) flee as a parachute drops a bundle wrapped in a sheet amongst them. The bundle is struggling to free and reveal itself from the sheet and perhaps symbolises Orlik’s radical ideas and unique art, as it plumets into the empty-eyed deer, sending them flying.

The antlers rise from a cairn of smooth moulded rocks, which are also body parts, a grave mound perhaps, or funeral pyre. They perhaps represent the moment (an announcement) when Orlik decides he will go his own way and they are a representation of his burning his dreams or sacrificing them (like a burnt offering) as a gift to the gods and only the gods – to be revealed later when the time is right.