February is the one-year anniversary of Gemini G.E.L. at Joni Moisant Weyl’s relocation to 535 West 24th Street, and we are marking the moment by celebrating architecture. The extraordinarily innovative, award-winning architect Frank Gehry has been making prints and sculptures with the Los Angeles-based artists’ workshop Gemini G.E.L. for over a decade. This presentation of his newest Gemini projects, as well as a survey of previous works, will grace our Stamberg Aferiat Architecture-designed gallery beginning on February 5 and continuing through April 13.
A newly editioned sculpture by Gehry, made of resin and placed on a wooden base designed by Gehry, will be introduced in this exhibition. Titled Memory of Sophie Calle’s Flower, it refers to a telephone booth collaboratively created by Gehry and Calle which was placed upon a bridge spanning the Seine river in Paris. The lithographic prints on view, including his newest Puzzledimages, depict various architectural projects – some recently completed as well as some unrealized. Gehry begins each architectural project with a sketch – what he calls the“tentativeness, the messiness.” From these abstract drawings, Gehry goes about refining his ideas until they finally are realized in tangible, three-dimensional form. While the prints are not actual preparatory sketches, they reflect the creative genius behind some of Gehry’s most iconic buildings. Gehry has achieved world-wide acclaim for his distinctive design sensibility; amongthe most innovative architects in history, Gehry’s buildings seem to defy gravity and the natural laws of physics. One of Gehry’s earliest buildings includes an addition to the Gemini G.E.L. workshop which was completed in 1979.
