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In this week's New Yorker, Lauren Collins has a funny bit on the popularity of "Fuck Frank Gehry" T-shirts. Popular, that is, with Frank Gehry himself!
The T-shirts first were a hit with Europeans who opposed the Bilbao project. Then they were sought after by critics of the Atlantic Yards. Then Gehry's driver saw the T-shirt at a super bowl party and soon a sample batch landed at Gehry's office. The architect explained, "Somebody sent it to me, and I thought it must have been the people in Brooklyn who are sort of angry. But then I thought, well, it must be loving, too. So I decided it was funny, and I put it on. And I wore it to the office, and everybody got a kick out of that, and then I wore it to the gym...”
Says T-shirt designer Barnaby Harris, who created the shirt as a follow-up to his "Fuck Yoga" shirts:
“First, someone from his office called and wanted me to deliver one to a friend of Frank’s who was giving a lecture at Baruch College called ‘Starchitecture,’ ” Harris recalled. “A week later, he called again: ‘Would you please send some shirts to Bruce Ratner?’ A couple of weeks ago, I got a third call: ‘Frank needs two in every color and every size.’”And Gehry obviously has a lighthearted approach to being skewered publicly.
"You know, when Bilbao was presented publicly, there was a candlelight vigil against me.” He let out a rueful laugh. “And then there was a thing in a Spanish paper saying, ‘Kill the American Architect.’ That was scary. So I stood beside the President every time there was an event. I figured, if they’re gonna kill me . . . Anyway. Once the building was built, I could live there for free. And the same thing with Disney Hall—when it was first shown they called it broken crockery, and now everybody thinks it’s great. So it takes a while. The little building on the West Side Highway, in New York? A few months ago, everybody was telling me how horrible it is, and now they like it.” He laughed again and went on, “You kind of say, ‘At least they’re looking!’ It’s not that big a deal, is it, compared to what’s going on in the world?”The NY Times mostly likes Gehry's IAC building.
Photograph of the IAC Building by ranjit on Flickr
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Brooklyn will be no different. Maybe Goldstein will throw Gehry a party after AY is done.
Personally I think the no talent hack is wearing them as an ad for himself so he can get laid.
‘Kill the American Architect."
joke's on you Spaniards, he's Canadian.
he should stick with public works like the ampitheatre in Chicago's Millenium Park. no one complained abou that... right?
What do these people want? Boring square buildings like the thousands sprouting up all over the city? I guess so...
We so own Canada anyway.
He is a US citizen.
Toby, you likely describe yourself more than Gehry.
Jill: Is it really necessary to use the F word in a headline?
Good ol' Frank. He's always right. Maybe the people who are getting thrown out of their homes for his fucking ugly building can camp out on the front door.
Robert Moses built the Cross Bronx (throwing *two-hundred-thousand people* out of their homes) in the 50s and it wasn't until the 70s that he was called out for being the monster he was. Like Frank says, sometimes it takes time.
Tim - AY isn't the cross bronx expressway. It's displacing very few comparatively, and mostly well-paid-off whiners.
As ever the contrarian, I must admit I love the IAC building...
Usually I shy away from using the F word, but, since it is integral to the post, I decided not to dance around it.
I love how he himself contrasts his brand of destruction against "what's going on in the world".
Yeah, okay Frank, you didn't invade Iraq. Does it make your buildings any less ugly -- and permanently so?
I wish I could say "It's no big deal" but we have to live with his banal monoliths for generations.
it's all self promotion in Ghery's eyes. CHA-CHING CHA-CHING CHA-CHING CHA-CHING CHA-CHING !!!!!! oh ... Miss Brooklyn ... OH ... you SOOO beautiful ... CHA-CHING CHA-CHING CHA-CHING !!!!
Since when was the name "Frank" so offensive? Why shouldn't Jill use it in the title? Oh, wait, you mean the other "F word".
"Fuck Ephraim Goldberg" is what it should read, he changed his name.