FRANK GEHRY

The sculptures, several of which will be visible from the street on Madison Avenue, are internally illuminated forms in copper and Formica; one copper fish is suspended from the ceiling of the gallery’s first room, in which Untitled (Black Crocodile New York) (2023) is also on view. Two further freestanding clusters are displayed on heavy, handmade wooden bases in the second space alongside another large hanging fish. While Gehry’s fish sculptures are self-contained works, the “perfect form” of the ancient creature that they emulate reappears throughout his architectural oeuvre, lending itself to the undulating profiles of buildings such as 2003’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; Guggenheim Bilbao (1997); and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (opening 2025). The leaflike scales on the copper fish represent a new motif inspired by a hike that Gehry took with his granddaughter.

Gehry is celebrated for groundbreaking architectural designs in which he pursues a fascination with primal, natural forms, conveying his sense that postmodernist architecture limited itself by confining its points of reference to the discipline’s own history; looking further, he seeks to escape that sentimental tendency. He has also produced significant bodies of sculpture and furniture, from Easy Edges (1969–73) and Experimental Edges (1979–82)—chairs and tables made from corrugated cardboard—to bentwood furniture designed for Knoll (1989–92). The Fish Lamps series evolved from a 1983 commission from the Formica Corporation to make use of their ColorCore plastic laminate. Gehry was inspired by the material’s scalelike appearance to produce piscine forms featuring ColorCore fragments affixed to molded wire armatures.

In Crocodile Lamp, Gehry reiterates a fascination with animals that has also found expression in Bear with Us (2014), a life-size stainless-steel sculpture now in the sculpture garden of the New Orleans Museum of Art, and an equine sculpture produced for Cheval Blanc in Paris. A linked interest in the natural landscape is reflected in the steel tapestry he created for the façade of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, DC, in 2020. Also included in Ruminations are several small works in ink, watercolour, and acrylic on paper. In these loose, joyful drawings, Gehry expresses the energetic motion of the piscine form in organic networks of black line and patches of liquid colour that resonate with his architectural sketches and studies.

Press release courtesy Gagosian