Frank Gehry

Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Frank Gehry, the first since his passing in 2025. 

Opening at the Beverly Hills gallery on May 14, the presentation was realized in collaboration with the artist’s family and designed by the Gehry studio. 

Among the animal-themed works on display are the life-size sculpture Bear with Us (2014), on loan from the artist’s family; Untitled (Black Crocodile New York) (2023), which was produced in ColorCore Formica and silicone; and Fish on Fire (2023), the last of Gehry’s fish sculptures to be rendered in copper.

Bear with Us portrays the titular mammal in gleaming 316L stainless steel, the intricate contours of the object’s polished metal surface lending it the appearance of crumpled foil. (The sculpture was also the basis for a clutch bag designed by the artist for Louis Vuitton in 2023.) And in A Pair of Snake Lamps (1989), Gehry employs gouache-painted papier-mâché, and illuminates the works to transform their serpentine forms into objects that are at once decorative and functional.

While the celebrated fish sculptures—several examples of which are on view—constitute self-contained works, the “perfect form” of the ancient creature they represent reappears throughout Gehry’s architectural oeuvre, evident in the undulating profiles of such buildings as 2003’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (opening this year). Also featured in the exhibition are ten ink, watercolor, and acrylic works on paper that express the energetic motion of fish in networks of black line and clouds of color.

Finally, the exhibition marks the first public screening of Gehry’s entry in Gagosian Premieres, a series of videos made in collaboration with artists and shaped around new gallery exhibitions. Running on a loop, the video was produced to celebrate Frank Gehry: Spinning Tales at the gallery in 2021, and documents musical performances by Esperanza Spalding and Gustavo Dudamel and YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles), as well as a conversation between Gehry and Julian Rose conducted in Gehry’s Los Angeles studio.

Opening reception: Thursday, May 14, 6–8pm 

Event details