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Frank Gehry's 'Ruminations' comes to Madison Avenue

2024-02-23T18:36:00-05:00

The Gagosian Gallery’s Madison Avenue location has recently opened an exhibition of Frank Gehry artworks titled Ruminations.

On view until April 6th, the gallery will be showing recent works Gehry’s team says are in dialog with the architect’s engagements with fluid aquatic animal forms that date to an inspirational early-80s commission with the Formica Corporation.

Frank Gehry, Ruminations, 2024, installation view. Image: © Frank O. Gehry. Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy Gagosian

Notably, the show features the East Coast debut of Gehry’s "Crocodile Lamp" sculpture besides selected works on paper and other elaborations on the animal theme.

Frank Gehry, Untitled (Black Crocodile New York), 2023. Metal wire, Colorcore formica, and silicone 13 3/8 x 102 3/8 x 51 1/4 inches (34 x 260 x 130 cm). Image: © Frank O. Gehry/Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy Gagosian

Ruminations follows the 2021 exhibition Spinning Tales, which was staged by the Gagosian in Los Angeles. This is the chance fo...

Frank Gehry's twin crocodile sculptures will star in Bonhams' upcoming LA auction

2022-02-23T18:53:00-05:00

Two sculptural pendant crocodile designs that once formed the centerpiece of Frank Gehry’s most significant mid-career designs are now for sale at Bonhams as part of the auction house’s first Modern Designs | Art sale of the year.

Frank Gehry, Illuminated Pendant Crocodile, 1983, custom-designed for Rebecca's Restaurant, painted metal and glass. Image courtesy Bonhams.

The pair is predicted to fetch somewhere in the $50,000–70,000 and $30,000–50,000 range respectively when the hammer drops in Los Angeles on March 8th.

The sculptures were created as part of Gehry’s 1983 commission from restaurateurs Bruce and Rebecca Marder for the design of the interior of their then-new Venice, California restaurant called Rebecca’s.

Related on Archinect: 'I think the fish form is architectural': Watch Frank Gehry talk about his latest sculpture exhibition in Los Angeles, Image: Spinning Tales, 2021, installation view. © Frank Gehry. Photo: Joshua White. Courtesy of Gagosian

Gehry’s design instantl...

Louis Vuitton announces Frank Gehry's new fish-inspired perfume bottle collaboration

2021-10-08T17:20:00-04:00

Taking from the movement and fluidity found in his fish motif, Frank Gehry has now teamed up with one of France’s most storied fashion houses for the design of a new fragrance bottle that was unveiled today.

As part of Louis Vuitton’s new Les Extraits Collection, the 92-year-old architect transformed the iconic bottle into a sculptural form that embodies the fragrance’s evocation of travel designed and developed by master perfumer Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud.

Image © Florian Joye via Louis Vuitton Les Extraits Collection

“This bottle is a fixed gesture,” Gehry said in a statement to Elle Decor, “a hydrodynamic line that recalls the undulating motion of fish, the spatial expression of that slow, continuous back and forth, the interplay of unstable equilibrium and gliding underwater, which have always been an architect’s obsession.”

Image © Florian Joye via Louis Vuitton Les Extraits Collection

Following the completion of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2014, Gehry has collaborated with ...

'I think the fish form is architectural': Watch Frank Gehry talk about his latest sculpture exhibition in Los Angeles

2021-08-06T19:37:00-04:00

“I think the fish form is architectural, that’s my take. I like the expression of movement. I wondered if we could recreate that in some way, could get in a building,” Frank Gehry reflected in a new video released by the Gagosian Gallery in conjunction with his Spinning Tales exhibition on view through today.

Video via Gagosian on YouTube.

The exhibition traces the lineage of Gehry's famous fish sculptures from their beginnings as an unintentional side-product of his experimentations into a plastic laminate called ColorCore to their zenith in the form of an installation at the 1992 Olympic Summer Games in Barcelona, and finally to their terminus in the gallery’s eighth showing of the fluid copper and polyvinyl sculptures that opened June 24th.

The gallery pulled out all the stops for the exhibition, which included a performance from Grammy-winning artist Esperanza Spalding as well as an appearance by conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who is working with Gehry on an upcoming project.

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Frank Gehry is once again exhibiting new sculptures at Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles

2021-07-08T17:43:00-04:00

A new examination of Frank Gehry’s sculptural work is swimming into Los Angeles this summer.

Spinning Tales will showcase new and old pieces from the architect at the Gagosian Gallery. Gehry has been very active in the art world recently, using this latest show to piggyback off of the much-anticipated opening of his new LUMA Tower in Arles this past week.

The 92-year-old Gehry has been a frequent exhibitor at the gallery’s Beverly Hills outpost with eight shows since 1999.

The exhibition combines new works from the Canadian-American architect with a trio of sculptures that trace their beginnings to a 1980s commission Gehry received from the Formica Corporation. Gehry had at the time been tasked with using a plastic laminate called ColorCore. After shattering a piece of ColorCore in his workshop, an allusion became clear: Gehry eventually glued the scale-like shards together over wire arm...

Frank Gehry designs "masterpiece decanter" for Hennessy X.O. 150th Anniversary

2020-09-28T11:02:00-04:00

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Hennessy X.O., the French cognac distiller has unveiled a sculptural decanter designed by Frank Gehry. Using his signature style, Gehry reimagines Hennessy X.O's classic design. The new bottle is wrapped with crinkled 24 carat gold-dipped bronze and encased in a "fractured" glass glorifier to illustrate its inspirations of water and light.

"I wanted to bring it to life, and so I took inspiration from its birthplace and used this crumpling effect of the material that gives it a feeling of movement," Gehry said in a statement. "The materials I've chosen catch the light and make this a really beautiful object on its own, but then you realize it is a bottle of Hennessy X.O."

Gehry has also pulled from past explorations in his conception of the packaging for this new collection. The decanter, glorifier, and fusil are packaged in a protective case made imprinted with Gehry's signature and made of compressed cardboard, paying homage to Gehry's ear...

Frank Gehry is the first architect to be awarded the Harvard Arts Medal

2016-02-05T14:42:00-05:00

Architect Frank Gehry has been named the recipient of the 2016 Harvard Arts Medal, which will be awarded by Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust at a ceremony on Thursday, April 28. The ceremony, presented by the Office for the Arts at Harvard and the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, will include a discussion with Gehry moderated by actor John Lithgow, who is host of the event. This marks the first time that the Harvard Arts Medal has been awarded to an architect.

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Frank Gehry's Tiffany Chess Set Is a Miniature Architectural Marvel

2012-05-02T15:42:00-04:00

... instead of drawing his inspiration from buildings in his portfolio, Gehry designed the various pieces of this chess set based on their role in the game. So the soft curves of the queen contrast the sharp angles of the king, while the pawns have all been equipped with cannons atop them. Unfortunately the set, which is made from fine bone-china, is only available from Tiffany & Co. as a special order for a staggering $25,000. A check-mate to the bank account for most of us.