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 armatures to create a series of, what he called, Fish Lamps that form a focal point for the show.
Three of the Fish Lamps appear to swim beneath the ceiling of Gagosian’s main gallery surrounded by Gehry’s new sculptures that accentuate the Fish’s “perfect form” in ways that evoke his designs for the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Guggenheim Bilbao.
Upstairs, the gallery’s second floor plays host to Wishful Thinking, an installation based upon the infamous tea party scene from Alice in Wonderland that Gehry rendered in beautiful painted metal and steel tapestry. The exhibition concludes with a mirror that turns the viewer into an active participant amongst the forested scene populated by ten outsized surrealist sculptures Gehry meant as stand-ins for the furry cast of characters in Lewis Carroll’s subversive Victorian masterpiece.
Spinning Tales opened to the public June 24th and will run until August 6th at Gagosian's Beverly Hills location.
3 Comments
They are beautiful but a bit like corporate lobby art. Rather too decorative. This is usually the case for the architects' art. However, Larry Gagosian built a good number of Gehry collectors with dust-free rooms. He knows how to sell.
"Frank Gehry famously said that one may no longer work in terms of the idea of truth to materials because the facts are that it's now just about money." from TEACHING WHAT CAN'T BE TAUGHT, Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe
again with the fish?
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