Art In Focus: “Will You Miss Me Once I’m Gone?” by Rafael Soldi

Posted on February 09, 2015, 6:55 am
2 mins

Slide
"Will You Miss Me Once I'm Gone?" by Rafael Soldi.  Archival Pigment Print, 2012.  30"x24." Image courtesy of the artist.

“Will You Miss Me Once I’m Gone?” by Rafael Soldi. Archival Pigment Print, 2012. 30″x24.” Image courtesy of the artist.

Perched on a ledge before an open window is a vase of yellow roses, a symbol of joy and friendship. Shrouded and veiled by translucent curtains, the color and form of the flowers is mostly obscured, like a fading memory. The subject is familiar and would be banal if not captured in this very specific moment, this light and format, which renders it into a striking, elegiac vision.

The thin curtains that blanket the entire image diffuse the soft light of the outside with the warm greys of the interior room. On the threshold (and a precipice), the flowers exist in that space that is both departure and arrival. The photograph reads like a sentence from a Virginia Woolf novel or a still from a Wong Kar-wai film, where the everyday becomes of the utmost importance—where spaces carry memories and objects are marked by meanings. It’s a still life that seems ready to softly break from its stillness with a breath; it’s a funereal portrait wherein a hint of life is yet seen.

“Will You Miss Me Once I’m Gone?” was the final image artist Rafael Soldi shot in his series, Sentiment. According to Soldi, the series acts an “emotional exorcism” of the loss of his partner. The nine photographs form a portrait of love lost and a struggle to overcome grief. Of all the images, it was the quiet power of “Will You Miss Me Once I’m Gone?” that stayed with me long after I left the gallery.

“Will You Miss Me Once I’m Gone” is on view through February 14 as a part of In the absence of… at Greg Kucera Gallery, curated by Sierra Stinson and Klara Glosova.

David Strand is a writer and aspiring curator based in Seattle.

2 Responses to: Art In Focus: “Will You Miss Me Once I’m Gone?” by Rafael Soldi

  1. RV22

    February 9th, 2015

    Why wasn’t the group show reviewed in its entirety?

    • TsFlock

      February 11th, 2015

      When we review group shows as a whole, we don’t (nor does anyone) typically address every artist and piece. For “Art in Focus” the reviewer chooses one piece weekly to address. Sometimes that is from a solo show, sometimes from a group show. There is a lot of art of every kind to cover in the city, and unfortunately we don’t get to it all. We at least hope that it encourages readers to come see the entire show for themselves.