[no title] 1995

Curator: Robert Therrien created this untitled piece, currently held in the Tate collection. What strikes you initially about it? Editor: There's a striking boldness in its simplicity—the red geometric shape against the off-white background creates an immediate, powerful impact. It evokes a sense of architectural structure, perhaps a gallows or a simplified house frame. Curator: Considering Therrien's work more broadly, his art frequently draws on the aesthetics of childhood and everyday objects, which are then scaled and presented in ways that disrupt our expectations. In that sense, the gallows can represent more than just death; perhaps it's a site for social change. Editor: I agree. The symbol's stark redness lends it a certain urgency, doesn't it? Red is the colour of warning, sacrifice, but also of love. Therrien’s reduction of form into such a basic graphic element invites us to project our own cultural and personal interpretations onto it. Curator: Precisely. Therrien asks us to consider how these symbols participate in the broader cultural landscape we inhabit. Editor: It is amazing how much conversation can be extracted from one deceptively simple form.