Robert Therrien

"The work of Robert Therrien exists in an area between painting and sculpture, representation and abstraction. His three-dimensional objects contain multiple levels of reference and association, having to do with memory and distilled emotion. They are derived from specific things seen by the artist, tangible forms in the external world that have been discovered and remembered."
—Julia Brown, from Robert Therrien: Poetic Objects (published by Museum of Contemporary Art, LA, 1984)

This exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery will show three large paintings; two on board and one on mirror. Each portrays a single image: a curled line; a Dutch-door, and an abstract shape reminiscent of a snowman. Each shape has occurred before in Therrien's work, sometimes in drawings, in paintings, or in objects.

With each repitition, however, the effect is changed by the uniqueness of the particular object, by its scale, color and its famous delicacy of finish.

Robert Therrien's oversized and monumental sculpture, Table and Chairs, was featured in the 1996 Carnegie International.