Frank Gehry (nee Goldberg) blasted into international stardom with his design for the Guggenheim in Bilbao. The curved titanium shapes were inspired by memories of fish swimming in his grandmother’s bathtub at Passover. I’d heard that the building was more of an attraction than the art inside, but that was not the case when I visited. The best was a powerful collection of work by Cai Guo-Qiang. A room full of broken statues of workers and exploited Chinese during the of Mao Tse Tung's Reconstruction smacks you in the face. I’ll never forget the look on the mother’s face as she reaches for her baby that’s being taken from her by a soldier. Another piece called The Age of Disbelieving consisted of several wooden sculptures hanging at different heights. Each sculpture depicts a different religion, Christ at the top on his cross, Buddha, angels and other characters I didn’t recognize; all shot through with hundreds of arrows. Check out his work on the Guggenheim site.
Couldn't resist taking a shot of Jeff Koons' pansy-covered puppy.
