The Californian Sphinx sits on her haunches, proud and unassailable. She has updated herself and has all the accoutrements of a well-heeled, 1980s Californian society hostess: elaborate, bouffant hair embellished with a string of jewels which hangs beneath her fancy hairdo; her forehead is bespangled with a large gem which rests above her one, heavy-lashed, heavy-lidded eye. Beneath the glamour and the glitz, she cannot, however, hide her age which is revealed by the heavy lines on her forehead. And, of course, she is old, ancient, and her Greek/Egyptian heritage is buried in the sands of time. She maintains her monumental position; sits, upright and proud, isolated on her jigsaw piece, and yet, from between her legs she shoots a fast train, her progress will not be stalled.

Like the Oracle at Delphi, where a statue stood to her, she appears to be in full enigmatic, self-controlled command. Orlik states, the Oracle was deceptive and duplicitous because it channelled a message from a deeper source and could be mendacious and double-faced in interpretation. Orlik suggests, we interpret the meaning as we see fit to try to change our ending, our fate: “We cannot stop ourselves, for better or worse – probably worse.”[1] And, Orlik maintains, there are forces even beyond the Sphinx’s seemingly impenetrable control. She is restricted by her laced bodice which shuts her in, and seems to bar her way, but, states Orlik, there are undercurrents below and she goes underneath, subversively fighting those who want to restrict her progress. Thus, from her dark mysterious inner sanctum she gives birth to incessant progress: a shooting, fast train which is a sinister, dark-eyed streamlined serpent who she releases into the world. From her fixed position, she has found a way to deliver “a little bit of mischief to balance the good, to add salt to the food”.[2]

She is the attractive trickster, the riddler, who causes trouble and enjoys it. “She can hoodwink people.”[3]

She is a puzzle to piece together, and it seems, indeed, that she has been breached as a small bridge has connected her jigsaw piece to another. Her solitary mystery is being infiltrated to allow examination in our modern methodical scientific way. Orlik asks what the cost of this breach is, the cost of our wanting to understand things that are beyond our understanding. Perhaps she is like Orlik who “wanted to be secret”, “wanted to be outside”, and she stands as a sentinel to mystery that cannot be fully comprehended. Orlik asks what of the compelling jigsaw puzzle piece now and the enigmatic, enticing Sphinx - the riddler – can she remain relevant and is there indeed a place for her mystery in the modern, fact-driven world?

Orlik situated his sphinx in California where he began his American odyssey. Whilst there he lived at the house of Beverly Coburn (ex-wife of actor James Coburn) who he had met in London and who took a liking to his art and invited him to stay with her. (“She knew how to impress; she was a complete puzzle”.[4]) The house was in Beverly Hills and it was a completely different experience for Orlik who stated he went there because he was “after something better than myself” and how much he looked forward to California. In the end, it proved to be a world of sophisticated parties and decadent revelry which was anathema to his way of being and as incomprehensible to him and enigmatic as his Californian Sphinx.

[1] Henry Orlik, in conversation, 31st May 2025

[2] Henry Orlik, in conversation, 31st May 2025

[3] Henry Orlik, in conversation, 31st May 2025

[4] Henry Orlik, in conversation, 17th May 2025