Beyond the Limits: “Heartbreak”

Welcome to the new Clive Barker Podcast Feature: Beyond the Limits where we’ll analyze a Clive Barker painting or photograph and express how it makes us feel. When I’m having a bad day one of the things that I do to cheer myself up is to look at a piece of art that Clive Barker has created. There’s so much effort put into his art that it’s hard not to look at it and smile. And what I love most about it is how he lets the viewer take whatever they want from the image and allows them to come up with their own stories from what he’s created. One aspect of Clive Barker’s work is that it never really ends. Whether it’s on the written page, a canvas, or the silver screen he always leaves the possibility for the story to continue and that’s very important to me.

Like all of his work there’s a mixture of surrealism and down to earth themes that creates a powerful and rewarding experience. For me, the painting known as Heartbreak tells the story of two brothers that are twins and one of them has reached a point in his life where he doesn’t want to go on anymore. As a lot us know twins have strong bonds and can sense one another’s most personal feelings. The hellish inferno that surrounds them represents the situation that both them are facing: Mental Hell.

One brother wants to die, while the other wants to save his brother from his internal struggles. Barker shows this by literally having the brother tearing into the other’s flesh and trying to inject him with the simple touch of life. It’s a great image showing brotherly love and how much we care about the one’s that mean the most to us.

Also worth noting after examining Heartbreak is that it reminded me of the excellent film Dead Ringers directed by David Croenberg. That film also deals with the strong bonds between twins and the negative effects it can have when they share their lives with other people. Maybe that’s what has brought the two brothers in Heartbreak to their current situation?

So does he save his brother? Who knows? Like I stated above Barker’s work never ends. And that’s the true power of it. So let your imagination run wild and share your thoughts on what you think Heartbreak means to you?