Two beings, unified by a kiss, are depicted in Soldatović’s sculpture, in a moment of the most beautiful kind of human intimacy, expressed through the open form of elongated figures, which were typical of his work from the ’50s onwards. The expressive power of the two beings’ embrace is emphasised by vivid and expressive lines of their intertwined drawn-out limbs. The typical uneven, crooked structure of the surface is the result of his creative process, as the sculptor essentially built each sculpture with textile and fibres soaked in plaster. He applied them onto a wire framework, thus creating shell-like forms, which were later reflected in the characteristic surface texture of the bronze. His sculpture is open, transparent, perforated and thus permeated by the ambience of the park. With his typical processing of materials, he achieved a psychological tension, since the thin intertwined bodies simultaneously express human fragility and a defiance of death, and at the same time illustrate the general human need for interpersonal intimacy and closeness.

Besides Soldatović’s sculpture The Kiss, there is another sculpture of his in Slovenj Gradec, the Little Deer, located in the setting of the hospital park.

Text: Katarina Hergold Germ