Orlik captures the sheer joie de vivre of the buoyant high spirits of the unencumbered couple of ‘winos’ with humour and camaraderie. They appear to float in their drunkenness, clothes rising as wine bottle and glass tip over. Jubilant fireworks burst in the night sky echoing their ebullience. The table is akimbo, and the woman kicks up her legs in a drunken dance revealing a butterfly tattoo on her thigh; her spikey blonde hair resembles the Statue of Liberty’s crown. A snake-like table leg symbolizes temptation wholeheartedly embraced.

The winos’ unbounded behaviour is as free and easy as Orlik’s excitation brushstrokes which fluidly animate the painting in a vigorous dance. The bottle of wine and glass with their beautifully treated shadows and shapes give depth to the painting. These and the metal railing are the only aspects of the canvas not invigorated with excitation brushstrokes, as if Orlik is stating, these are the barriers that constrain the winos - although not tonight in this moment of eternal joy.

Orlik described his process of painting as a ritualistic dance and his ‘brushlines, like dancers responding to a musical score, the score being the picture’s subject.’ (Henry Orlik, ‘Let the Spirit be Moved’, 1994). Here, the winos become the notes themselves merging with the cosmic dance while the railing represents the musical staff normally imposing order. Here, however, the notes break free into spirited impromptu jazz, achieving liberation through joyful abandon.