Teraphim, a plural Hebrew word from the Bible is thought to refer to singular objects - the plural form implying magnificence. In many English translations of the Bible it is translated to mean idols, or household god(s). The theme of the (in Lueckenhausens case benign) household god inserting itself into the domestic scene as a sort of guardian presence evolved as the narrative in which his Teraph series of works sits. The symbiotic duality intended by Lueckenhausen sits behind a theme of reconciliation of opposites including: geometric against curvilinear, and often zoomorphic, form, natural timber colours and textures against highly finished, painted or laminated surfaces, architectonic stillness against the suggestion of movement, as in recent arrival or imminent flight.
