Don't Look Back: A Meditation on Love and Loss

I began work on this painting in 2024. Its working title was Cactus Flower.

Initially, it formed a link to a group of paintings set in a desert. These pictures portrayed broken relationships, not only between two people, but also between humans and their environment. Moreover, these paintings depicted a man looking at a woman as if he was about to be made left alone in a wilderness. The more I thought about this, the more I saw an association with the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

The story of Orpheus and Eurydice has inspired artistic expression for centuries.

Eurydice, a Thracian bard, has a gift enabling him to mesmerise people with his songs and playing of a lyre. It is said he could also charm rocks and plants. Unfortunately, Orpheus meets with tragedy. His new bride, Eurydice, is bitten by a snake and dies. The heart-broken bard pleads with Hades and Persephone, the god and goddess of the Underworld, to reclaim his bride.

They agree. However, there are two conditions. Once Orpheus has found Eurydice, he must lead the way out in single file. Furthermore, he must not turn around to look at her until both are fully clear of the Underworld.

Needless to say, this being a tragedy, once Orpheus leaves he immediately checks to see if Eurydice is with him, only to discover she has not stepped fully into the land of the living. Predictably, Hades and Persphone snatch her back, and there she stays.

In its early state, Cactus Flower was about just such a story. A man loses his love and sits in a room looking back (on his phone) while surrounded by reminders of her.

So, how to unify this painting with Orpheus?

It took me a few days to figure it out, and a week to paint it, namely a carpet incorporating a Greek lyre.

Don’t Look Back has two points of view (POV).

One places the viewer left of centre. This is reinforced by the carpet which directs the viewer to the centre of the painting depicting Eurydice. It also ensures this painting remains parallel to the picture plane.

The second POV shifts to the right of centre, placing the viewer in front of Orpheus. It also creates an inverted triangle of the masks and Orpheus’ head. Note that a viewer’s vertical line of sight passes through the centre of the middle mask. This also means the right-hand side of the black picture frame is visible.

So why two views?

What is the relationship between the woman and the masks?

Masks signify a hidden identity. Hence they represent a mystery, one that remains hidden.

As for the cactus, is it simply the case that it represents a connection to a desert? The woman in the painting stands upon cracked and barren earth. Is this a metaphorical desert? Does it represent his life or hers? What does the flower symbolise? Life, hope, or memory? (Note his left foot points directly towards the flower)

There are several questions for viewers to consider, or at least I hope so. But it is fair to say that memory, in other words looking back, like Orpheus, plays a significant part in Don’t Look Back.