‘People seem to cling together for comfort and protection’ - Henry Orlik

Orlik gives an intimate and sensual portrayal of the communion between two bodies which intertwine and merge to become one; they create a wider connection with existence as they bond with the earth with which they are connected by a large umbilical cord of dark blue and brown intertwined cord, chaining them to the ground, which rises behind them connecting them to the each other and the earth which recedes behind them like the sensual contours of a woman’s body. The white robe of one side of the figure is pulled aside to reveal a breast, which mimics the shape of the shoulder of the red-clothed figure so that the two parts of the body become a pair of breast. The heads merge in a kiss so that they become one head sharing a head of hair. One naked leg of the white clothed figure straddles the red-clothed figure – a pink brain-like filigree of shapes like a pink garter, or pink intestine rests at the top of the leg. The folds of the white robe are like the striations on a shell and the subtle folds and lines on the earth-red clothing becomes like the folds in the land itself. The figures become like parts or organs of a bigger body, the brains and intestines. The painting encompasses the earth colours of the figures, the soft brown of their skin, the telluric-red of the tunic and the ethereal, but rock-like grey-white of the gown so that the figures become part of the landscape itself.