Collection: Orpheus

Orpheus is an academically trained oil painter based in southern England.
His highly charged depictions of male sexuality draw their compositions and moods from 17th-century Baroque art, inspired by artists such as Caravaggio, Rubens and Bernini – and executed with the same materials and techniques.
At the same time, they reference the aesthetics of the contemporary gay fetish scene and are permeated by an unfulfilled longing for intimacy and connection.

Orpheus grew up in the suburbs of the English Midlands in the era of AIDS and Section 28 – a time when homosexuality was neither visible nor discussed, let alone celebrated.
During a brief stay in Paris as a teenager, he developed a deep passion for art history in the halls of the Louvre.
This was followed by twenty years as an international official in remote regions of Asia and the Middle East – experiences that shaped his sense of being an outsider and his reserve, and which are still evident in his work today.

His works have already been exhibited in London and Canada.
In the spring of 2025, Orpheus was Artist in Residence at the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles.