In his early work from the 1980s, Robert Therrien focused on forms abstracted from everyday objects including trumpets, coffins, snowmen, faucets, clouds, etc. In the 1990s he created a group of sculptures of ordinary household objects such as plates, bowls, beds, and tables and chairs. Often at outsized scale, these works can make the viewer feel like Alice in Wonderland. Towards the end of his life, Therrien created full-scale iterations of rooms and spaces, often with eerie and uncanny overtones.

Untitled (Trumpet Plaque) exemplifies Therrien’s early work. The background evokes white picket fences as well as rec room paneling, while the elongated bronze form brings to mind an alpenhorn or a similarly basic wind instrument. The semicircular form at the lower right of Untitled not only suggests an invisible depth to this wall sculpture but also, with its bowl-like shape and gold surface, brings religious fonts and Japanese lacquerware to mind.