It's a love letter': exhibition pays tribute to Frank Gehry's lesser-known works

"Although Frank Gehry is best known as a world famous architect with iconic creations such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, he also made art pieces. Springing out of his fascination with the fluidity of animal forms and creative properties inherent to various substances, Gehry created works including fish, bears, crocodiles, and snakes. As a celebration of Gehry, who died in 2025 at age 96, Gagosian now offers a suite of his non-architectural work, built mainly around the artist's graceful play with the forms of fish."

"“As soon as I processed Frank's passing I wanted to do an exhibition that was still in this moment,” said Deborah McLeod, a personal friend of Gehry's who has led several shows of his work for Gagosian. “It's a love letter to Frank Gehry.” Although Gehry is known for enormous sculptural buildings studded with gigantic pieces of stainless steel twisted at vertiginous angles, these large-scale works share creative inspiration with the much more intimately sized pieces featured at Gagosian."

"According to McLeod, Gehry believed the shape of a fish to be a perfect form, and he drew inspiration from the smooth curves of a fish's form to make his late architectural masterpieces, starting with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. He said it many times, the fish is the perfect form, and he integrated it into his architecture, of course, said McLeod. One sees it starting in the late 80s, and by the year 2000 we have Bilbao it's very nautical, very much like the slashing forms of a fish."

"With dozens of fish, a bear, snakes and a nearly 10-foot-long crocodile, Gagosian's Gehry is a testament to the potential found in the animal kingdom. These pieces are remarkable for how the architect crystallized the characteristic movements of these creatures, effectively channeling the unique kinetic"

Frank Gehry, known for major architectural works, also produced art pieces inspired by the fluidity of animal forms and the creative properties of different substances. His non-architectural works include fish, bears, crocodiles, and snakes, with many pieces centered on fish. Gagosian presents an exhibition titled Frank Gehry in Beverly Hills, offering beauty and whimsy through these animal-inspired works. Deborah McLeod, a personal friend of Gehry, led the show and described it as a love letter. Gehry viewed the fish shape as a perfect form and drew on its smooth curves, integrating that idea into later architectural masterpieces such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The works crystallize characteristic creature movements and channel kinetic energy.

Read at www.theguardian.com