Lost Your Way was first shown at Ebensperger in Berlin, in December 2023, as part of Etchells’ show there, the show taking its title from this work. Installed against the furthest wall on the upstairs part of the gallery, the phrase ‘You have lost your way’ is presented in a reversed direction, as though intended for viewing from the other side of the concrete bunker wall. Punning on the viewers ‘incorrect’ position echoes the artist’s works Don’t Look Back and several of the ‘Problem series’ neons, all produced in the same year.

Through simple phrases spelt out in neon, LED and other media, Etchells strives to create miniature narratives, moments of confusion, awkwardness, reflection and intimacy in public and gallery settings. Encountering the neon sign works, in the streets of a city or in the space of a white cube gallery, the viewer becomes implicated in a situation that’s not fully revealed, or a linguistic formulation that generates confusion or ambiguity. As often in Etchells’ work, in the neons the missing parts of the picture are as important as the elements that are present. Invoking a story, or projecting an idea out-of-context, the work invites us in, but into what exactly we can’t be sure.