Tallulah Dirnfeld ‘Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing’
LocationT293, Rome
Date 23 October – 20 November, 2026
T293 is pleased to present 'Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing', a solo exhibition of new paintings by Tallulah Dirnfeld. The works bring together canvases that appear full yet hold a persistent sense of absence. Bodies, bedrooms, clothing, fruit, and ornate interiors — things long associated with beauty, intimacy, innocence, and pleasure — fill the surfaces; the artist focuses on the exact point at which those things begin to feel strange or insufficient.
The title is taken from Mark Strand's poem 'Keeping Things Whole', in which presence is described as something that generates its own absence: wherever the speaker stands, he displaces the space that was there before him. It is precisely this contradiction that interests the artist: the possibility that something might be entirely present and still be missing.
The figures are often physically close yet psychologically inaccessible: they turn away, hide their faces, fold into beds, or are absorbed by fabrics and objects. At times the figure disappears altogether, replaced by a garment or a still life. These objects are intended not as symbols but as traces: things that can hold the suggestion of a person without the person truly being present.
The work also reflects the desire to preserve what cannot remain unchanged: satin registers the pressure of a body for an instant; fruit exists in the moment of ripeness before decay; historic interiors outlive those who inhabited them. The flash-like quality of the paintings suggests a similar attempt to capture and hold onto a moment already in flight.
There is an almost fairytale promise in the images — the palazzo, the sumptuous bed, the girls, the fruit, the softness and abundance. Everything seems to have arrived, yet the fullness remains elusive. The artist's interest lies in the space between possessing something and already feeling its loss, when the present begins to resemble a memory before it is even over.
The paintings do not resolve what the figures feel or what exactly is missing: the artist remains faithful to the contradiction itself — the possibility of being surrounded by beauty, bodies, objects, and intimacy while still perceiving something that cannot be possessed or held onto.
The title is taken from Mark Strand's poem 'Keeping Things Whole', in which presence is described as something that generates its own absence: wherever the speaker stands, he displaces the space that was there before him. It is precisely this contradiction that interests the artist: the possibility that something might be entirely present and still be missing.
The figures are often physically close yet psychologically inaccessible: they turn away, hide their faces, fold into beds, or are absorbed by fabrics and objects. At times the figure disappears altogether, replaced by a garment or a still life. These objects are intended not as symbols but as traces: things that can hold the suggestion of a person without the person truly being present.
The work also reflects the desire to preserve what cannot remain unchanged: satin registers the pressure of a body for an instant; fruit exists in the moment of ripeness before decay; historic interiors outlive those who inhabited them. The flash-like quality of the paintings suggests a similar attempt to capture and hold onto a moment already in flight.
There is an almost fairytale promise in the images — the palazzo, the sumptuous bed, the girls, the fruit, the softness and abundance. Everything seems to have arrived, yet the fullness remains elusive. The artist's interest lies in the space between possessing something and already feeling its loss, when the present begins to resemble a memory before it is even over.
The paintings do not resolve what the figures feel or what exactly is missing: the artist remains faithful to the contradiction itself — the possibility of being surrounded by beauty, bodies, objects, and intimacy while still perceiving something that cannot be possessed or held onto.