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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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| Gehry gives frank lecture to young
architects in Schoenberg Youthful 73-year-old discusses successes, failures of designs from 1959 to present
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF hho@media.ucla.edu Sylvia Lavin, chair of UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design, introduced architect Frank Gehry as a "true celebrity. We know … his biography, his books, buildings, his life ... Frank, in my opinion, is a young architect … because he takes risks that experimentation entails." After the celebratory speech, 73-year-old Gehry's first words after awkwardly climbing the stage to the podium in Schoenberg Hall Monday night were, "If I'm so young, how come I couldn't walk up these steps?" It wasn't so much an insult as it was a jab at the hyperbole balloon. With someone as distinguished as Gehry, it's easy to dehumanize him into a superhero artist. On the other hand, Gehry wants everyone to know he's good people. When he talked about the tiddly lights (lights lining the sides of the pier) that he designed for the Santa Monica Pier, Gehry had no intention of boring the audience with grand artistic visions. "I was pretty hokey," Gehry said about the lights. "I just wanted you to know that." Self-conscious of his works that have been published "ad nauseum" (in his words), Gehry demonstrated his all-too-human self with a slide show of works from his earlier years, before the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall but after his bar mitzvah. The talk was meant for young architects in the room who could learn from Gehry's early struggles and their evolution into the style he is known for today. "Old people should leave," Gehry warned. The slides Gehry showed spanned his beginnings in 1959, only a few years after he graduated from Harvard, to the present day. Many of his projects were commercial works, such as apartment complexes, jewelry stores, UCLA's Placement Center and even Euro Disney. According to Gehry, architecture built around Mickey Mouse statues is not the ideal environment for art. Gehry's advice for young architects did not fall on deaf ears. Before the talk, younger audience members could be seen scribbling down their latest sketches, as if the mere presence of Gehry in the room was enough to inspire. A great many more people were turned away as the small auditorium filled to the brim. The audience was generally in awe, especially when Gehry noted that a certain building had been torn down or a building's design had been compromised by budget problems or artistic differences. These instances elicited a collective gasp. How could someone do that to the beloved architect? But, as Gehry reminded us, he was not always famous and in demand. In fact, he's the first to point out that certain designs were bad or derivative. Once, he thanked God a design never became a reality. Regarding another slide, he said, "I'll be damned if I know where this is." The Aerospace Museum in Los Angeles he designed leaked. "When you're starting out, your buildings leak," Gehry said matter-of-factly. Not one to be pretentious, Gehry emphasized the whimsical aspects of his works, especially the fish and snake fetishes he incorporated into his designs. "I got into a lot of fishy stuff," Gehry said. Later he had a chain-link fence fetish. He sculpted fences, generally thought ugly, around building exteriors to beautify the material. Gehry has also worked with cardboard, making chairs for Bloomingdale's and an entire cardboard room for a show. Gehry even went so far as to deflate his most famous work to date, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. It got commissioned because the Basque Country Administration thought impressive architecture could lure the shipping industry away from competitors in Barcelona and Madrid. "It was about commerce," Gehry said. "It wasn't about art … When it was finished, I hated it. I always do that." As Gehry's chronological narrative of works progressed, more aspects of the Bilbao's design emerged, including the idea of a single building composed of separate pieces, like a bowl of fruit in a still life painting; the use of curved materials; and a fascination with bent stainless steel. There were several running jokes during the presentation, including a hungry woman who told Gehry to hurry up: "There's a story behind (this building), but it would take hours and the lady wants to eat." Gehry also not-so-subtly hinted at selling the audience his works: "I've got one kid left to put through college." Gehry's hokeyness gives hope to those who still believe art can be unpretentious fun. |
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