Tatiana Trouvé’s unassuming, hyper-realistic chair sculptures deal with ideas about time, memory, and identity: each one a representation of a person or personality Trouvé has imagined. The works in this series are all titled The Guardian as a reference to the fact that Trouvé sees these pieces as guards to portals both real and unseen which, when unlocked, can lead to other worlds or planes of existence. On the left, the belongings are meant to evoke a traveler--indicated primarily by the large suitcase sitting across the chair; and, on the right, the objects remind us of an irreverent feminist: her enormous sodalite bag overflowing with books and trash juxtaposed by a small carton of cigarettes with the roach of a joint perched on top.

In both Guardians, we see shells and books: the shells refer to the natural world, but also to what Trouvé describes as the “fossil of life.” The books speak to the qualities of the individual who they represent.  For instance, the traveler’s book, La Mirada del Jaguar, or The Jaguar’s Look, is a tome on anthropology, an apt choice for a well-studied adventurer. On the other chair, haphazardly tossed inside the bag, are three books which explore sexuality, female liberation, feminist historical figures, and the nature of salvation.