Among the works on view is Bear with Us (2014), a life-size sculpture in 316L stainless steel on loan from the artist’s family. Its gleaming, irregular surface transforms the figure of the bear into a reflective, almost abstract volume, resembling a crumpled sheet of metal and recalling the material experiments of Gehry’s architecture.
Alongside the bear are Untitled (Black Crocodile New York) (2023), made of ColorCore Formica and silicone, and Fish on Fire (2023), Gehry’s last fish sculpture to be produced in copper. The fish is one of the key figures in his repertoire: an autonomous subject, but also a formal motif that resurfaces in the curves and contours of many of his buildings, from the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles to the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The exhibition also includes A Pair of Snake Lamps (1989), gouache-painted papier-mâché lamps in which the serpentine form becomes a functional object, and ten works on paper in ink, watercolor, and acrylic, tracing the movement of fish through lines and fields of color.