Isabelle Albuquerque X Robert Therrien at the Robert Therrien Studio

The late artist Robert Therrien was known for creating surreally outsized objects — a giant table and chair set that towers over viewers; a wobbly stack of dishes stacked in a monumental column. Across his time working in his downtown LA studio building, Therrien adapted the space to his work, a stack of massive pots and pans crowds a red-painted closet space, its door ajar; hidden artworks installed in nooks and crannies — the space itself is filled with pathos, of years spent making within its walls. 

Excitingly, the artist’s studio and estate has opened its doors to the public and invited a contemporary artist, Isabelle Albuquerque, to install her work across the multi-room studio building — the two artists’ work intermingling in conversation. Both have developed a cohesive and honed iconography — while Therrien’s work frequents pots, pans, raindrops, clouds, oil cans, and steeples, Albuquerque’s work centers on a sensual femme human form. Her figures are headless, made of plaster, bronze, resin, and silver, and are often lounging on low beds or plinths, seemingly consumed by their own self-pleasure. They explore quiet animalistic impulses — one (“Orgy for Ten People in One Body: 5”) has been flocked to look like a deer faun, with white spots up her back, another covered in fur and given a tail.  

While at first glance, the juxtaposition between Albuquerque’s sensuality and Therrien’s quiet insistence on depicting domestic objects may seem at odds, as I walked around the beautifully installed exhibition, the two seemed to be in a strange conversation with each other. Albuquerque’s figures often wear wedding rings, and intermingle with household (while phallic) objects like saxophones and brooms. They felt grounded by Therrien’s quiet domesticity while Therrien’s sculptures felt electrified by Albuquerque’s.The show will remain on view through December 14th and will be open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Visitors can DM the studio to schedule a visit.

Photo: “Isabelle Albuquerque X Robert Therrien” at the Robert Therrien Studio, Los Angeles, 2024. Photo by Joshua White; Courtesy of Isabelle Albuquerque and Robert Therrien Estate.