The Barcelona Fish, a 52m long sculpture as a landmark of the Barcelona Seafront. Photographed by Bel Hiew
At the age of 83, Gehry continues to design lamps of fish in his Los Angeles studio.[1] Known for his deconstructed, imaginative and creative designs with the experimental use of materials, the fish language became Gehry’s design power from the post-Modernism period as he was exploring new creative use of forms. Gehry decided to venture back into his childhood interest that he believed a fish embodied a coherent relationship of form and movement. The fish was a symbol of perfection.[2] For Gehry, the nature and attributes of the fish’s scales, texture, form and motion gave him a creative continuity in design.[3] In year 1981, The Financial Times Millennium Bridge Competition further encouraged Gehry’s returned exploration.[4] Gehry and Richard Serra collaborated to design a hypothetical bridge that connected the Chrysler Building to the World Trade Center. The collaborative bridge was anchored at both ends by a massive steel pylon with a 150 storey fish structure that leaped over.[5]
“I was watching the beauty of carp swimming in a pool in Japan and thinking about how elegant and architecture they were” – Frank Gehry [6]
Frank Gehry: Fish Lamps Exhibition. Image Courtesy to Gagosian Gallery. Photography by Benjamin Ritchie Handler
The Gagosian Galleries, both in Los Angeles and Paris celebrated Gehry’s nurtured passion in fish. The 2013 exhibition featured Gehry’s collection of fish inspired lamps which includes a range of life-size to out-size fish scale. The collection demonstrated an introduction to the symbiotic relationship between form, function and material through the intimation of life using organic textures. Using ColourCore, these wire framed creatures of jagged scales were of flexing and curling forms of motion that emitted an incandescent, warm light.[7] Grouped either individually or in groups of two or three, these whimsical, soft glowing artificial creatures appears to swim around the exhibition.[8]
Shards of the material ColourCore were individually glued to create an emulation of a real fish. Image courtesy to If It’s Hip, It’s Here
Gehry’s artistic goals remain within his turf. By nature, Gehry sought the company and collaboration of artists in high ambitions to be an artist in the field of architecture itself, rather than an artist among other artists.[9] Gehry did not confide in designing spaces through symmetry and grids. He found the 30-60 grid is an architect’s obsession, which restricted design in creating spaces and forms. However, as an artist with a grid free approach in architecture, Gehry felt a greater freedom as an architect that escaped the boundaries and constraints within the field.[10]
The famous Guggenheim Bilbao Museum in the Basque Country, introduces reflective titanium curves that form complex shapes to evoke sensations of fluidity’. Photographed by Bel Hiew
I kept drawing it [the fish] and it started to become for me like a symbol for a certain kind of perfection that I couldn’t achieve with my buildings,” – Frank Gehry [11]
The reflective panels of the iconic Guggenheim Bilbao Museum embodies the reminiscence of fish scales. Photography by Bel Hiew
After many ‘fish’ experimentation in statues, structure, sculpture, jewelry and furniture. This renowned architect has always incorporated this recurrent motif as his guiding form in his architectural pursuits.[12] As Gehry’s formal language evolved, he was designing architecture that was asymmetrical using an odd but creative use of materials that often acquired an unfinished façade, and often times was beautiful with a unique identity.[13] Seeing architecture as art, Gehry was in greater design freedom and felt the possibilities in changing the rules of the architectural domain.[14] As an artist in architecture, the fish was the quiet muse to his formal architectural language which greatly, contributed to his career success as being one the most celebrated and prolific architects today.
Architect Frank Gehry with his trademark work, the orange fish lamp back from the 1980’s. Image Courtesy to If It’s Hip, It’s Here
[1] Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, “Frank Gehry at 83: Still Obsessed With Fish,” Co. Design, January 14, 2013, accessed April 18, 2017, https://www.fastcodesign.com/1671622/frank-gehry-at-83-still-obsessed-with-fish
[2] Laurence B. Chollet, The Essential Frank O. Gehry (New York, United States of America: Harry n. Abrams Inc Publishers, 2001), 50-51
[3] Henry N.Cobb, The Architecture of Frank Gehry (New York, United States of America: Rizzoli International Publications, 1992), 74-80
[4] Joseph Giovannini, “Art/Architecture; Bending Geometry: Two of a Kind,” The New York Times, August 29, 1999, accessed April 20, 2017, http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/29/arts/art-architecture-bending-geometry-two-of-a-kind.html
[5] The Essential Frank O. Gehry, 50-51
[6] Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, “Frank Gehry at 83: Still Obsessed With Fish,” Co. Design, January 14, 2013, accessed April 18, 2017, https://www.fastcodesign.com/1671622/frank-gehry-at-83-still-obsessed-with-fish
[7] “Frank Gehry, Fish Lamps,” Gagosian, accessed April 18, 2017, http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/frank-gehry–january-11-2013
[8] Megan Willet, “Architect Frank Gehry Is Still Obsessed With Fish,” Business Insider, January 17, 2013, accessed April 19 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com.au/frank-gehry-fish-lamps-gagosian-gallery-2013-1
[9] Kurt W. Forster, Frank O. Gehry, trans and ed. Melissa Thorson Hause and Christina Bechtler (Germany: Cantz Verlag, 1999), 14-15
[10] Gehry Partners, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 1999-1997 (New York, United States of America: Gehry Talks: Architecture + Process, 1999), 140-143
[11] Laura, “Frank Gehry’s Fish Obsession Swims Full Circle,” If It’s Hip, It’s Here, January 16, 2013, accessed April 19, 2017, http://www.ifitshipitshere.com/frank-gehrys-fish-obsession-swims-full-circle/
[12] Jarret Moran, “Frank Gehry Loves Fish,” Artlog, January 10, 2013, accessed 18 April 2017, http://artlog.com/post/40210144158/frank-gehry-loves-fish-the-renowned-architect
[13] Laurence B. Chollet, The Essential Frank O. Gehry (New York, United States of America: Harry n. Abrams Inc Publishers, 2001), 50-51
[14] Kurt W. Forster, Frank O. Gehry, trans and ed. Melissa Thorson Hause and Christina Bechtler (Germany: Cantz Verlag, 1999), 14-15