Public Installation
Frank Gehry
Wishful Thinking
February 19–March 20, 2022
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
www.laphil.com
Frank Gehry’s immersive installation Wishful Thinking (2021) is installed in BP Hall at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, following its debut at Gagosian, Beverly Hills, last year. Based on a scene from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the work depicts the Mad Hatter’s tea party as a group of ten surreal figures, twice life-size. Fashioned from brilliantly painted metal, Gehry’s abstracted interpretations of Lewis Carroll’s characters surround an internally lit table, the glowing heart of the scene. Three overlapping woven steel “tapestries” of trees evoke the episode’s forest setting, while a mirror on the opposite wall implicates the viewer. The crumpled surfaces of Wishful Thinking’s figures establish a new visual connection with some of Gehry’s best-known designs. The installation is free and open to the public.
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Frank Gehry, Wishful Thinking, 2021, installation view, Gagosian, Beverly Hills © Frank O. Gehry. Photo: Joshua White
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