Fairs & Collecting

August 5–18, 2021

I see my work as fairly self-contained, almost circular. If you tried to graph it in a linear way, it wouldn’t work. There are too many references going backwards. The work is a little like a spiral because a spiral goes forward and then circles back on itself, then passes itself again.
—Robert Therrien

Gagosian is pleased to present seven works on paper by Robert Therrien (1947–2019) for galleryplatform.la.

Over the course of the four decades of his career, Therrien drew repeatedly on the operation of memory and the texture of everyday life to produce a singular body of objects and images infused with a quality of the surreal. Best known for creating oversize sculptures of tables, chairs, dishes, and other household items, he was fascinated by the visual and conceptual effects of dramatic shifts in scale and context. From the 2000s onward, Therrien’s work also reveals influences and preoccupations including childhood mythology and period-specific design. It represents, too, an extended investigation of “figure-ground play,” wherein an image may signify several divergent things at once, to differing degrees of visibility.

In addition to sculptures and photographs, Therrien produced an extensive body of work on paper, which conveys a similar fantastical wit. Made using bleach, dye, customized stencils, and other mediums, these delicate drawings, prints, and mixed-media works often incorporate macabre motifs such as gallows and black clouds, suggesting a fascination with folklore beyond the elusive magical potential of ordinary things. Usually shown in silhouette or outline and isolated at the center of the page, these totemic images further elaborate Therrien’s interest in the relationship between objects and space.

Among the featured works are depictions of a devil, an oilcan, a head encircled by a halo, and the legs of a girl emerging from a body of water. These were created using various materials including colored pencil, graphite, laundry marker, and tempera. Two compositions incorporate abstract elements—one depicting Therrien’s enigmatic character Joyce in outline surrounded by a cluster of ink marks, the other a constellation of colored dots. In each case, Therrien invests an outwardly simple theme with magnetic ambiguity, conveying his admiration for the stylized look of early Hollywood cartoons to transform familiar icons into evocative symbols.