Orlik painted many beautiful depictions of the human body and its sensuous and sensual connection with the earth so that the land becomes anthropomorphised into body parts, sometimes writhing together in ecstatic union (Human Landscape 1973, Acoris, Surrealist Masters 1974, no. 51). Here the painting appears more sinister. In other paintings Orlik merges the heads of couples (Lovers and Antichrist), often linked by their hair, creating loving depictions of intense coupling suggesting the co-mingling and conjoining of body and mind. Here, however, the two heads seem harsh in colour and depiction and a sinister jagged flare of red rises between them, separating them, like an angry tongue, a flame or a strip of stylised blood. It appears the heads are being born from the torso and appear disparate from other the body parts. The title, Suka, Russian slang for ‘bitch’, places the painting in both an interesting historical and personal context for Orlik.