Reviews for Conversations with Frank Gehry

The average rating for Conversations with Frank Gehry based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-01-03 00:00:00 Fernando Reyes I am not a big Frank Gehry fan although I do believe he is a significant and immensely talented figure - so forgive my somewhat jaded view of this book. The book is a series of conversations assembled around specific themes (interesting) but mostly his massive projects (boring and anecdotal) undertaken by Gehry over the past forty years. He has had an interesting life and has a very creative and fluid way of working which is most engaging and which is well expressed in the text. A current critique of modern architecture describes architecture as having succumbed to commodification. A discipline which has such enormous potential to benefit civil society through effective and considered design of schools, health facilities, public space etc has recently directed its discursive focus virtually entirely towards office buildings and endowment funded art/culture monuments -museums, concert halls etc - for the pleasure and glorification of the monumentally wealthy and powerful, distancing the potential of architecture from most of us. A critique which demands that architecture should be more ethical in its enterprise and not simply serve the often expedient impulses which appear to currently drive it towards its fashionable and commodified status. Gehry is the flower girl of this tendency towards decadence and excess. His buildings titillate and amuse and occasionally fill one with awe (Bilbao) but their ultimate meaning and value is arguably vapid and simply reflective of an abundance of funding and patronage- lucky guy ! . A kind of baroque architecture. He is talented, hard working, passionate committed, honest and deserving of his reputation and the book is an interesting insight into the sensibility of an architect of great significance. I would prefer to hear him argue his position rather than simply bask in the arguably dubious delight of his effervescent and prolific work - an activity which this book accommodates most effectively. Not a great book but stimulating in a curiously vicarious way......

Review # 2 was written on 2018-04-18 00:00:00 James Dean This book provides a unique perspective on Gehry's work by the artist himself. I've now read two books and watched two documentaries on Geary. This book gives insight into the inspiration for the work. I especially enjoy Gehry's point of view regarding incidents described in other works.