Crossword Genius

Earlier work in a gold sculpture retrospective (8-7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

backward-looking

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'retrospective' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'earlier work in a gold sculpture' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'work' could be 'w' (physics abbreviation) and 'w' is located in the answer.
'in' is present in the answer.
'a' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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