Frank Gehry

I decided the fish was the model for the future of architecture because it expressed sculptural movement.
—Frank Gehry

Gagosian is pleased to announce Ruminations, an exhibition of new sculptures and works on paper by Frank Gehry, opening at the gallery’s 976 Madison Avenue location on February 8, 2024. Ruminations features large-scale elaborations on objects from Gehry’s Fish Lamps sculpture series (1984–86 and 2012–), a Crocodile Lamp sculpture, and several works on paper that have not previously been seen in New York.

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.