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August 30, 2006

Artwork of Robert Therrien coming to Sacramento State

The work of Robert Therrien, an accomplished California artist who transforms everyday objects into striking artwork, will be on display at the University Library Gallery at Sacramento State from Sept. 5 to Nov. 11. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Admission is free.

The opening reception is set for Friday, Sept. 8 from 5 to 8 p.m. in the gallery.

Visitors will be able to view two-and three-dimensional pieces as well as works in mixed medium by the internationally-known artist. The display will include sculpture, drawings, oil paintings and photographic prints.

The exhibition comes to Sacramento State courtesy of the Broad Art Foundation, established by Eli and Edythe Broad in 1984 to foster public appreciation of contemporary art by increasing access for audiences worldwide.

Therrien’s work focuses on the beauty of forms and the materials from which they were created. The artist has been known to take an ordinary object and create the unfamiliar by removing functionality to reveal a new imagery.

For example, his 1994 wood and metal work “Under the Table” transforms the ordinary by dramatically altering scale with oversize chairs and table. His sculpture “No Title”, 1993, a work of ceramic epoxy on fiberglass, recreates plates in a kitchen on a massive scale, towering more than six feet high in a precarious stack.

Therrien became known in the 1980s for his sculptures and works on paper that range from representational to abstract. Since the early 1990s, his work has become increasingly representational as the result of the influence of photography.

Therrien, who is based in Los Angeles, has had many solo exhibitions including shows at the Gagosian Gallery in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

For more information about the gallery show, call (916) 278-2368. For media assistance, call the Sacramento State Office of Public Affairs at (916) 278-6156.