"When Robert Therrien passed away in 2019 at 71, he left behind a series of small note cards, each bearing a labeled line drawing. To those closest to him, they felt like legends that, if decoded, might reveal something of the elusive artist's practice. Many feature recurring forms in his work, like a keystone with the words "this is her" scrawled beneath it, or a bent cone titled "this is the path.""
"He often made sculptures of familiar objects that resist autobiographical readings, deriving their meaning not from what they disclose, but from what they evoke in the viewer. "On a very visceral level, these objects register as things that Therrien loved and valued," Schad explained. "But they do so by recalling one's own love of objects, one's own narratives and memories from childhood.""
"Therrien is best known for his large-scale sculptures that transform the mundane into the monumental: towering stacks of plates that induce vertigo, split Dutch doors that lead nowhere, and enormous tables that cast viewers back into childhood. Through shifts in scale, dimension, and material, he rendered quotidian objects uncanny. Standing beside-or beneath-them, familiar associations crack open, inviting reflections on how perception reshapes lived experience and memory."
Robert Therrien left note cards bearing labeled line drawings and recurring motifs, including a redacted paragraph followed by the words "this is a story." The redacted card encapsulates a paradox in his practice: sculptures of familiar objects resist autobiographical readings and derive meaning from what they evoke in viewers. Therrien's large-scale sculptures transform the mundane into the monumental—towering stacks of plates, split Dutch doors, and enormous tables—that induce vertigo and recall childhood. Through shifts in scale, dimension, and material, quotidian objects become uncanny, prompting reflections on how perception reshapes lived experience and memory. The Broad presents the first major and largest retrospective of his work since his death.
Read at ARTnews.com
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