{"id":485,"date":"2026-04-17T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/?p=485"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:00:00","slug":"gagosian-beverly-hills-hosts-first-frank-gehry-exhibition-since-iconic-architects-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/?p=485","title":{"rendered":"Gagosian Beverly Hills hosts first Frank Gehry exhibition since iconic architect’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Most Angelenos know Frank Gehry as the rebel architect whose deconstructionist architecture revitalized Los Angeles during its turn-of-the-century identity crisis. <\/p>\n

Few know him as the sentimental sculptor who is the focus of the upcoming Frank Gehry exhibition at Gagosian Beverly Hills. This will be the first time Gehry’s work will be on display since his death in December. Curated by those who worked with and loved the famous architect, the show, which opens on May 14 and is scheduled to run through June 27, is part tribute and part art presentation. Several of Gehry’s animal-themed sculptures will be on display, including a rarely seen stainless steel bear figurine on loan from Gehry’s family.<\/p>\n

The exhibition will also include the first public screening of Gehry’s entry into Gagosian Premiere, a series of videos by the gallery showcasing new art exhibitions that combine intimate artist interviews, studio visits, and professional musical performances.<\/p>\n

Deborah McLeod, senior director at Gagosian Beverly Hills, said the exhibition reveals a different side of the late visionary by highlighting Gehry’s artistic practice rather than his design work, which includes the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Louis Vuitton Foundation. <\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t say this is a retrospective, but it’s a chance to stand in the room and be with him,” McLeod said, adding that while she “doesn’t have the arrogance to say this is closure for anyone,” she hopes it helps people, especially those who worked most closely with Gary, come to terms with his loss. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all miss Frank so much, and this is our chance to come together and do this again as his team,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Mr McLeod co-curated the exhibition with Megan Lloyd, principal assistant and partner at Gehry Partners, who said he was “a true voice for Frank”. Gehry’s studio designed the show and worked with the artist’s family to bring it to life. <\/p>\n

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Deborah McLeod said of Frank Gehry’s bear sculpture, “We never had a chance to display it properly in a gallery. Every time we made it, it sold.” <\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Frank O. Gehry. Photo: Benjamin Lee Ritchie Handler \/ Courtesy of Gogosian)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

A highlight of the Gagosian exhibition is the artist proof of “Bear with Us” (2014), which the gallery lifted with a crane from the garden of Gehry’s wife Berta Aguilera. Another version of this bear sculpture is on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art, but for the first time at Gagosian, the piece will be displayed as part of an exhibition.<\/p>\n

The stainless steel doll was crumpled and many believe it was the result of Gehry crumpling up paper and seeing the crumpled bear, but McLeod said Gehry told her herself that wasn’t true. The director added that the bear’s appearance gives the illusion of something being “born or dissolved.” The sculpture will completely dominate Gagosian’s North Gallery. <\/p>\n

“We’re going to give him what he deserves,” McLeod said. For her, this work, which could be described as Gehry’s “self-portrait,” was the perfect fit. <\/p>\n

Several other animal-themed sculptures will be on display in the south gallery. These include a glowing black crocodile, a papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 snake lamp painted in gouache, and Gehry’s final fish sculpture in copper, Fish on Fire (2023). McLeod said the work would have a “magical” feel when illuminated in a dark gallery. <\/p>\n

Gehry’s original fish sculpture, created in the ’80s, was still housed there. But when it returned to fish form 30 years later, McLeod said, “The fish really started to become baroque, so it’s kind of amazing to see that evolution.” <\/p>\n

Rounding out the exhibition is a series of ink, watercolor and acrylic works on paper that “express the energetic movements of fish in a network of black lines and clouds of color,” a news release says.<\/p>\n

Some of the exhibits are available for purchase, and a detailed checklist is also available. <\/p>\n

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The first Frank Gehry Fish Lamp was exhibited at Gagosian in Los Angeles in 1984.<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 Frank O. Gehry. Photo: Robert McKeever \/ Courtesy of Gagosian)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Gehry’s designs brought the city center to life, but he never completed many of his most exciting projects, including plans to transform the 81-mile-long LA River. <\/p>\n

And while his architecture was a great gift to his adopted homeland, his art was a gift to himself. <\/p>\n

“Imagine the calculations and details you have to go through as one of the busiest architects in the world,” McLeod said, noting the tremendous pressure from clients that Gehry must have felt in his daily practice. <\/p>\n

“For him, he just plugged it in to make something the way he wanted to make it…I know that was a huge relief for him,” she said. “I know how much he loved doing it, and I loved being a part of that part of his life.” <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

#Gagosian #Beverly #Hills #hosts #Frank #Gehry #exhibition #iconic #architects #death<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most Angelenos know Frank Gehry as the rebel architect whose deconstructionist architecture revitalized Los Angeles during its turn-of-the-century identity crisis. Few know him as the sentimental sculptor who is the focus of the upcoming Frank Gehry exhibition at Gagosian Beverly Hills. This will be the first time Gehry’s work will be on display since his … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[640,584,629,630,635,641,624,623,628,637,625,626,602,622,638,177,636,639,634,627,631,632,633],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-architects","tag-art","tag-artist","tag-bear-sculpture","tag-beverly","tag-death","tag-deborah-mcleod","tag-exhibition","tag-fish","tag-frank","tag-frank-gehry","tag-gagosian","tag-gallery","tag-gary","tag-gehry","tag-hills","tag-hosts","tag-iconic","tag-paper","tag-piece","tag-senior-director","tag-series","tag-studio-visit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}