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Robert Therrien (1947–2019) was an American artist known for his monumental large-scale sculptures of familiar, everyday objects.

Born in Chicago, Therrien spent most of his childhood in San Francisco and went on to study art at the California College of the Arts in Oakland. In 1970, he enrolled at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara where he received his BFA in photography. Therrien earned his MFA in 1974 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. During his time at the University of Southern California Therrien focused on developing reliefs that straddled painting and sculpture.

After graduation, Therrien’s work concentrated on aspects of Minimalism, particularly the use of scale, as well as elements of Marcel Duchamp’s use of found objects as sculpture. During the 1980s he became known for his integration of simple, recognizable shapes such as jugs, coffins and doors, transformed through a variety of media including copper, wood and bronze. In the early 1990s, Therrien focused on the themes of familiarity, which helped to develop his notable emphasis on monumental art. He experimented with reinventing everyday objects, including tables, chairs, pots and pans, making them grand in size. The result is a reimagination of reality, as viewers are able to engage with the immersive sculptural installations.

His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Kunstmuseum, Basel and Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. A survey of Therrien’s work opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2000 and also travelled to SITE Santa Fe in New Mexico, the Contemporary Art Museum Houston in Texas, and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey in Mexico.

Therrien’s work can be found in numerous collections around the world, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Tate Modern in London, and the Eli Broad Foundation in Los Angeles, among others. In 2009, several of Therrien’s works including “Red Room” (2000-7), “Stack of Plates” (2004), and “Beard Cart” (2004) were added to the notable UK-based international Contemporary Art collection, Artist Rooms.