Frank Gehry defends Eisenhower memorial design

 

Frank Gehry didn't attend Monday's congressional hearing about his design for the planned Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington. But the Los Angeles architect sent a letter defending his controversial conception of the public memorial, while also stating that he is open to the idea of changes.

As the Times reported Tuesday, Gehry wrote in his letter: "My detractors say that I have missed the point, and that I am trying to diminish the stature of this great man.... I assure you that my only intent is to celebrate and honor this world hero and visionary leader who did so much for our country and the world."

The architect also wrote that if organizers and members of the president's family feel that the sculpture of young Eisenhower is "an inappropriate way to honor him, then I will be open to exploring other options with them."

Members of Eisenhower's family have been openly critical of Gehry's design. They have stated that the design insufficiently honors the man's military and political accomplishments and focuses too much on his youth in rural Kansas.

Art Center buys postal facility, plans to expand and renovate

A major redesign is in the works for Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design, which is gearing up for what its president says will be the largest fundraising campaign in its history to pay for an expansion of its south campus and renovations to its distinctive, elongated main campus set into a hillside about five miles to the north.

Art Center, often ranked among the nation’s top design schools, announced Tuesday that it has spent $7 million to buy a former U.S. Postal Service mail distribution center next to its existing satellite campus in south Pasadena, and has hired the Los Angeles firm Michael Maltzan Architecture to do master planning and design work.

L.A. Phil 2012-13: John Adams, 'Wild Things,' 'Angels in America'

This post has been updated. See below.

After sating itself with super-sized helpings of Gustav Mahler this winter, the Los Angeles Philharmonic won't be curbing its appetite for large-scale undertakings next year.

The Phil's 2012-13 season, which will be officially announced later Monday, is a combination of large- and medium-size projects (some new, some evolving from its current season), along with the return of several familiar faces (Esa-Pekka Salonen, Zubin Mehta).

And although there'll be nothing like this season's nine-course banquet of Mahler symphonies, the composer's Symphony No. 5 will be performed in October under guest conductor Daniel Harding. 

The season also will have a distinctly operatic flavor, featuring several staged or semi-staged works. They include the second of a planned trilogy of Mozart/Da Ponte operas, "The Marriage of Figaro," conducted by the Phil's music director, Gustavo Dudamel, with sets designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel and costumes by couturier Azzedine Alaïa.

Deborah Borda, the Phil's president, said in an interview that the Mozart project, which the Phil conceived with architect Frank Gehry, grew out of Dudamel's belief that "an orchestra needs to play Mozart, for purity of sound, and they also need to play opera once in a while, to be nimble."

The project is allowing the Phil to continue to explore the spatial and staging possibilities of Gehry's iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall. Rather than opera sets, Borda described the planned Mozart designs as "installations."

Frank Gehry is working for free as architect of new Jazz Bakery

This post has been corrected. Please see note at bottom for details.

Having designed L.A.’s signature space for classical music, Frank Gehry is on board to do the same for jazz -– although his pro bono work on a new Culver City home for the Jazz Bakery would be on a much smaller scale than his downtown Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Gehry’s involvement became public Monday when the Culver City City Council authorized the city manager’s office to execute a “commitment letter” transferring a narrow slice of city-owned land next to the Kirk Douglas Theatre –- just one-seventh of an acre -– to the nonprofit Jazz Bakery for a new home. 

The council had to move quickly. The fear was that if the transaction was not completed by the end of the day Tuesday the long-brewing plan to give the Jazz Bakery the land would be sunk by the state government’s decision to eliminate redevelopment agencies statewide starting Wednesday. That will include the Culver City Redevelopment Agency, which administered the property at 9814 Washington Blvd. that’s being transferred.

Richard Posell, a Jazz Bakery board member and attorney, said there’s widespread confusion over just what the new ground rules for using former redevelopment agency land might be if the transfer agreement weren't signed by the deadline. Final details were still being negotiated late Tuesday afternoon.

“I think it’s going to get signed,” Posell said. If not, he quipped, “I hope Jerry Brown likes jazz.”

The Jazz Bakery aims to raise an estimated $10.2 million to build its new home, with a $2-million grant from the Annenberg Foundation as the campaign’s cornerstone. Plans call for a two-story building, with the main, 250-seat concert room upstairs and a small black box theater on the ground floor. The Jazz Bakery has been seeking a permanent home since 2009, when it lost its lease at the Helms Bakery complex, a mile northeast of the new location. Since then, it has produced concerts in various places.

Ruth Price, president and artistic director of the Jazz Bakery since it debuted in 1992, said Tuesday that she didn’t know Gehry, or even ask for his help, before he called about six months ago to volunteer his services.

Frank Gehry sketches out 'Don Giovanni' for L.A. Phil

The ideas that Frank Gehry sketches out on paper have a way of turning into big, ambitious projects. Deborah Borda, president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, keeps one such drawing on her office wall, of a cluster of enigmatic shapes at odd angles. That was an early rendering of Gehry's plan for what became his landmark Walt Disney Concert Hall.

It's hard to know exactly what to make of a sketch Gehry has made for the Phil's upcoming production of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" in May (pictured). What is known is that Mariusz Kwiecien will play the hell-bound anti-hero, and Rodarte sibling designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy will style the costumes for the production, which Gehry will design.

In an unusual mash-up of classical music and architecture, the production will be the first of a planned trilogy of operas that Mozart composed with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. Gehry will select the other two architects who will design productions of "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Cosi fan tutte" in subsequent seasons.

We're still awaiting word on what Gehry's sketch represents. Meanwhile, anybody want to hazard a guess, or maybe a Rorschach analysis?

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Rodarte pair will design first opera costumes for L.A. Phil

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Architecture review: Frank Gehry's New World Center in Miami Beach

-- Reed Johnson

Photo credit: Sketch courtesy of Frank O. Gehry

Gehry-designed New York theater to open with $25-million gift

Frank Gehry’s first project for a stage company –- the new home of Manhattan’s Signature Theatre –- will be named the Pershing Square Signature Center, thanks to a $25-million gift announced Thursday during the run-up to the venue’s opening on Tuesday.

The $66-million facility on 42nd Street takes its name from its benefactor, Pershing Square Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund whose contribution will primarily subsidize low ticket prices to encourage attendance by new and diverse audiences.

It houses three stages, with seating capacities of 199, 244 and 294. The complex is at the foot of a 63-story, mixed-use glass tower developed by the Related Companies. Gehry designed only the theater center, which will debut with a production of Athol Fugard’s “Blood Knot,” directed by the playwright.

Monster Mash: Eisenhower family wants overhaul of Gehry memorial

Drama continues: The family of Dwight D. Eisenhower wants to overhaul the layout of the former president's planned memorial, which was designed by Frank Gehry. (Associated Press)

Expanding: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is planning a new museum in Helsinki, Finland. (Agence France-Presse)

Genius: A letter written by Ludwig van Beethoven has surfaced in Germany. (BBC News)

Disruptive: A ringing cellphone halted a recent performance of Mahler's Ninth Symphony by the New York Philharmonic. (Baltimore Sun)

Rumor has it: Broadway's "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever," which received scathing reviews, could close on Feb. 19. (New York Post)

Apply within: Carnegie Hall is launching a new national youth orchestra. (Wall Street Journal)

Coming soon?: Broadway producers of the musical "Leap of Faith" are eyeing a possible spring opening. (New York Times)

Keeping count: Attendance at the Museum of Modern Art in New York dropped 11% last season, while the Metropolitan Museum of Art saw an increase in visitors. (Bloomberg)

Holy look-see: The Vatican Museums saw more than 5 million visitors in 2011. (Catholic News Agency)

Donation: Philanthropist Dame Jillian Sackler is giving $5 million to the Smithsonian's Asian art museum, which bears her late husband's name. The gallery will host Ai Weiwei's "Fragments," a large-scale sculptural work. (Associated Press and Washington Post)

Strange timing: The Charles Dickens Museum in London is defending its decision to close for a revamp during the 200th anniversary year of the author's birth. (BBC News)

Passing: Photographer Jan Groover, who specialized in still lifes, has died at 68. (New York Times)

Also in the L.A Times: The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood could be losing its most famous tenant -- the annual Academy Awards ceremony.

-- David Ng

Photo: Frank Gehry at a 2011 discussion for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. Credit: Charles Dharapak / Associated Press

Monster Mash: Logan to adapt 'Jersey Boys,' Tate curator to Met

New leadership: The Metropolitan Museum of Art hires Sheena Wagstaff, chief curator of Tate Modern in London, in a bid to become a "serious competitor in the field of contemporary art for the first time in half a century." (New York Times)

Four Seasons on film: "Hugo" writer and "Red" playwright John Logan will pen the film adaptation of  "Jersey Boys," winner of four Tonys in 2006. (Hollywood Reporter)

Dancing about ... : Filmmaker Wim Wenders, whose most recent work is the documentary "Pina" on the German performer Pina Bausch, says he's working on a new documentary on architecture. (Art Review)

Fairy tale musical: Director Rob Marshall is in talks to direct a big-screen adaptation of "Into the Woods," and has said that Stephen Sondheim will write new songs for it. (New York Magazine)

Cash call: The Santa Monica Playhouse is soldiering on despite its failure to raise a needed $15,000 to continue operations. (Santa Monica Mirror)

The red violin: Joshua Bell talks about playing on the soundtrack of "Flowers of War," Zhang Yimou's historical epic that's already grossed $83 million in China. (Huffington Post)

Ring again: The Washington National Opera will present the complete Wagner “Ring” cycle in 2016, which it had initially commissioned with the San Francisco Opera but suspended because of money problems. (New York Times)

Test of time: The Gehry Residence, architect Frank Gehry's first significant work, has won the AIA's 2012 Twenty-Five Year Award. (Curbed LA)

Inflation? A 1793 one-cent copper coin from the earliest days of the U.S. Mint has sold for a record $1.38 million at a Florida auction. (Art Daily)

Mural art: A photo gallery of Los Angeles' most bizarre and beautiful storefront murals. (Myopia)

Passing: Artist and activist Dara Greenwald, co-founder of the radical feminist dance troupe Pink Bloque and co-editor of the book "Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures, 1960s to Now," has died at age 40 of cancer. (Democracy Now!)

Also in the L.A. Times: Filmmaker-playwright Neil LaBute's collaboration with photographer Gerald Slota is currently on view at the Robert Berman Gallery in Bergamot Station.

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo: A scene from the production of "Jersey Boys" at the Ahmanson Theatre in 2007. Credit: Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Rodarte pair will design first opera costumes for L.A. Phil

Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy are slated to design their first opera costumes for the Los Angeles Philharmonic production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” in May, which will be staged by modernist director Christopher Alden.

The pair will join a creative team that includes conductor Gustavo Dudamel and architect Frank Gehry, the latter doing the set design.

The production will be a homecoming for the Los Angeles designers, who started their label in 2005 and have been recognized internationally for their artistic approach to fashion and their handcrafted technique.  

“It only took a few seconds to say ‘yes,’” Laura Mulleavy said Tuesday. “My grandmother sang opera, and if she were alive today, this would be her proudest moment.”

Although the sisters didn’t meet Dudamel until after they had signed on, they cited their respect for him as a factor in the quick decision. “He’s a larger-than-life figure in Los Angeles. It’s amazing to see someone so artistic, doing something that you’re not used to seeing, on a billboard here.”

Monster Mash: 9/11 museum stalls; Frank Gehry center advances

Delayed: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the planned Sept. 11 museum has ground to a halt because of a financial dispute, and there is now no possibility it will open on time next year. (Associated Press)

Fundraising: A board of directors has been named for the Frank Gehry-designed performing-arts center planned for the World Trade Center site in New York. (Wall Street Journal)

Busted: A French graffiti artist has been arrested on suspicion of tagging subway trains in New York. (New York Daily News)

Circle is closed: The Las Vegas run of the stage musical "The Lion King" at Mandalay Bay Theatre is scheduled to play its final performance Friday. (Playbill)

Not giving up: Andrew Lloyd Webber has expressed a wish to take "Love Never Dies," the sequel to "Phantom of the Opera," on tour in Canada. (Sydney Morning Herald)

But worried: Lloyd Webber says London's Olympic Games will force most of the capital's theaters to close for the summer. (Associated Press)

Leadership role: Conductor James Conlon, who serves as music director of L.A. Opera, has been named an honorary board member of the Great Artists Series in Florida. (Miami Herald)

Embezzlement?: A former director of the Lewis County Historical Museum in Washington is suspected of stealing funds from the organization. (Seattle Times)

Passing: James Rizzi, a New York-born and based pop artist best known for his playful and childlike three-dimensional sculptures, has died at 61.

Also in the L.A. Times: An Art Center alumnus says he created the stylized flower that is the Tournament of Roses' logo.

-- David Ng

Photo: Visitors walk around the site of the former World Trade Center in New York. Credit: Mark Lennihan / Associated Press