Aluminium, steel, wood and plastic
Pop Art and its Legacy
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/robert-therrien-2312" aria-label="More by Robert Therrien" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Robert Therrien</a>
Table and Four Chairs
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
chair
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
furnishings
mystery
objects
scale
table
universal concepts
<p><span>No Title (Table and Four Chairs)</span> is a multi-part sculpture of a dining room set, enlarged to three times its original size. It consists of five objects: one table and four chairs, which are arranged around the respective sides of the table, drawn out slightly to leave a space in each case between the table edge and chair leg. The colossal sculpture stands over ten feet high, tall enough for viewers to walk easily beneath its vast expanse. Although the sculpture mimics the wooden construction of a typical dining room set, it is created with a mixture of aluminium, steel, wood and plastic. The surfaces have been painted with a wood grain effect finish.</p>
installation aluminium steel wood plastic
20 April 2009 – 28 March 2010
2010-03-28
20 April 2009 – 28 March 2010
2010-03-28
2009-04-20
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2009-04-20
Robert Therrien, Table and Four Chairs
Collection based display
29 July 2010 – 31 January 2011
2011-01-31
29 July 2010 – 31 January 2011
2011-01-31
2010-07-29
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2010-07-29
ARTIST ROOMS Robert Therrien
Collection based display
21 April 2012 – 22 July 2012
2012-07-22
21 April 2012 – 14 July 2012
2012-07-14
2012-04-21
The MAC: Metropolitan Arts Centre (Belfast, UK)
2012-04-21
ARTIST ROOMS 2012: Therrien
Loan-out
21 June 2014 – 7 September 2014
2014-09-07
21 June 2014 – 7 September 2014
2014-09-07
2014-06-21
mac Birmingham (Birmingham, UK)
2014-06-21
ARTIST ROOMS 2014: Robert Therrien
Loan-out
1 September 2017 – 25 February 2018
2018-02-25
1 September 2017 – 25 February 2018
2018-02-25
2017-09-01
De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art (Tilburg, Netherlands)
2017-09-01
ReView
Loan-out
20 August 2018 – 7 October 2018
2018-10-07
20 August 2018 – 7 October 2018
2018-10-07
2018-08-20
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2018-08-20
ARTIST ROOMS Robert Therrien
Collection based display
No Title (Table and Four Chairs)
displayed: 8920 × 14850 mm
object, each (Chair): 2860 × 1430 × 1730 mm
object (Table): 2690 × 4685 × 3620 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<div class="text">
<p>
<i>No Title (Table and Four Chairs)</i> is a multi-part sculpture of a dining room set, enlarged to three times its original size. It consists of five objects: one table and four chairs, which are arranged around the respective sides of the table, drawn out slightly to leave a space in each case between the table edge and chair leg. The colossal sculpture stands over ten feet high, tall enough for viewers to walk easily beneath its vast expanse. Although the sculpture mimics the wooden construction of a typical dining room set, it is created with a mixture of aluminium, steel, wood and plastic. The surfaces have been painted with a wood grain effect finish.</p>
<p>Since the 1990s Therrien has created oversized sculptures of utilitarian objects in primary colours or in black or white. The objects he chooses are usually basic in form, including, for example, chairs, tables, plates, bowls and oil cans. It is an important feature of the work that the objects as well as their form and function are easily recognisable. Rather than inventing the style of his furniture, Therrien models many of his sculptures on simple designs from the early to mid-twentieth century. His table and chair ensembles, which date from the early 1990s, were inspired by furniture created by the American manufacturers Gunlocke, a company that was founded in 1902 and was renowned for its handcrafted wooden office furniture. In 1993 Therrien made his first work with table and chairs, <i>No Title (Yellow Table Leg)</i> (Museum of Modern Art, New York), inspired by the first Gunlocke table and chair set he purchased. The following year Therrien produced a related work, <i>Under the Table</i> (The Broad Art Foundation). <i>No Title (Table and Four Chairs)</i> is based on Therrien’s own Gunlocke-designed kitchen table in his home in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>
<i>No Title (Table and Four Chairs)</i> invites the viewer to walk around and underneath it, experiencing the sculpture physically and additionally transforming the viewer’s perception of the exhibition space. Despite their physical quality, however, the roots of Therrien’s table and chair works lie in photography. Intrigued by the view beneath his kitchen table, the artist took a series of black and white photographs from the perspective of his floor. <i>No Title (Table and Four Chairs)</i>, as well as the preceding sculptures, is an attempt to create the same dramatic viewpoint as in the photographs.</p>
<p>The experimentation with scale also has a psychological dimension, making viewers feel small in relation to these otherwise conventional household objects. The sculpture removes the viewer from his or her usual position above the tabletop, to navigate through the table and chair legs, and investigate magnified structural details that would usually be hidden from view. The experience of walking underneath <i>No Title (Table and Four Chairs)</i> prompts a childlike nostalgia; one which perhaps recalls Jonathan Swift’s <i>Gulliver’s Travels</i> (1726) or Lewis Carroll’s <i>Alice in Wonderland</i> (1865). The fantastical quality of these literary works may also arguably be seen as an element in Therrien’s sculpture, despite the ordinariness and familiarity of his chosen objects.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Lynn Zelevansky, Robert Therrien, exhibition catalogue, Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, Los Angeles 2000.<br/>Norman Bryson and Margrit Rowell, Robert Therrien, exhibition catalogue, Gagosian Gallery, London 2008.</p>
<p>Kathryn Lloyd<br/>November 2011</p>
</div>

Summary
2013-06-24T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
chair emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities furnishings mystery objects scale table universal concepts