In a lecture hall that sat a third empty due to the eclipsed "super blood moon" transpiring outside, Paul Goldberger discussed his new biography of Frank Gehry, "Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry" with J. Paul Getty Trust C.E.O. James Cuno at The Getty Center. 

Goldberger spent the first part of the evening recounting of the well-known narrative of Gehry's life: a Canadian Jewish working-class boy, Gehry moved from chilly Toronto with his ailing father to the warmer climes of Los Angeles, eventually becoming the city's, if not the world's, most iconic architect. After paying the bills in his early adulthood by driving trucks, Gehry enrolled at USC and then on to Harvard, where he completed his studies in architecture. He went on to work for a variety of architects including Victor Gruen, and on projects including 1961's so-called "futuristic building" at LAX (although, Goldberger was careful to note, in a purely junior capacity). Goldberger framed Gehry's existence not only in terms of what he described as Gehry's pattern of "turning down lucrative opportunities because he would lose control" but also in terms of his family relationships. From being mesmerized as a child in the 1930s by watching a soon-to-be-Gefilte-d fish swim in the family's bathtub to hoping, at the dedication of his skyscraper 8 Spruce Street in 2011 that his long-gone father might finally approve of him, Gehry has always been exceptionally open about his emotions and how they fuel his work. Goldberger mentioned the vital role of Gehry's psychotherapist in his career, who urged him to leave his first wife in order to fully become Frank Gehry (his given name was Frank Owen Goldberg). Gehry's second wife, Berta, still plays an instrumental role in the operation of Gehry Partners, LLP, and their 40+ year marriage was described as being a happy one.

In an insightful aside, Goldberger described the formulation of Gehry's successful architectural business and design strategy as having come from working for William Pereira and Charles Luckman. Gehry did not care for Pereira's context-less dramatic shape making drive, but neither did he love Luckman's business-only client dealings, which he felt lacked ideas. Like "a child trying to unite divorced parents" Gehry sought the middle ground between these two extremes, hoping to incorporate artistic forms with nuanced client relationships. 

After running through the biographical details, Goldberger seemed far more eager to discuss Gehry's work, a selection of which Cuno helpfully projected on the screen behind them. Here, the inventive materiality and massing that could be broadly described as the signature elements of Gehry's work was clearly evident from 1965's Danziger Studio and Residence to 2014's Louis Vuitton Foundation, which Goldberger described as "early and middle Gehry wrapped in late Gehry." At the end of the conversation, Cuno projected an image of the Danziger Studio and the Walt Disney Concert Hall side by side, asking Goldberger to discuss the differences and similarities. After reflecting for a moment, Goldberger found there to be more similarities than differences between the two buildings, especially in the dramatic but elegant massing and incorporation of negative space. He noted that while the concrete of the Danziger Studio made allusions to Alvar Aalto, its material rawness distinguished it as Gehry's.

Fittingly, Goldberger closed by reflecting that Gehry's family, by moving to Los Angeles, had ultimately allowed Frank to find beauty in the banal, to elevate what others found ugly into an art form. However, Goldberger allowed that would have likely happened anywhere the Goldberger-nee-Gehry's had touched down, whether in Miami, Houston or some other seemingly unremarkable urbanity. Frank Gehry's work is as universal as it is specific to the man himself.