H40 W32cm. Underglaze paints, earthenware glazes. Additions: slumped coloured glass on copper wire pendants; porcelain flowers & leaves

A 3D interpretation of Klimt’s The Kiss, 1908, an image acclaimed as the embodiment of unsullied ecstasy. I see it not as portraying the spiritually uplifting power of fulfilled love but the spirit-oppressing power of relationship dominance. To emphasise this, the penis-shaped cloak of gold, under which the couple are fused as one, has been exchanged for a cavernous hood. From its depths the man’s arms reach out across the space between them, forcing the girl to her knees. One hand grips her jaw while the fingers of the other knot through her hair, nails digging into skin. Her left hand tries to push his arm away, her right curls limply round his massive neck. His eyes, concealed in the painting, glance sideways, on the lookout for his next conquest. In the painting, the man’s shimmering robe has flat pattern. The tunic is decorated with the Ancient Egyptian style eyes adopted by Klimt in other works. These spy out from the perforated hood. Pendants hang rigidly from its orifices, as trophies of past conquests. The girl’s dress, forced down to expose a breast, descends from white at the top to ochre mud where the hem trails among faded petals and fallen leaves.

Related poem: Heart critic