Sketches Of Frank Gehry review

Frank Gehry has been enshrined in the international league of ‘starchitects’, an image-stoking cult of personality that dates back to the Renaissance. This documentary examining the Great One’s life and work – most notably the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Disney Concert Hall in LA – is thus in thrall to the notion of the architect as artistic genius.

Throughout, Sidney Pollack’s film appeals to the mystification of Gehry’s talent: a grandmother’s sack of wood, a handwriting horoscope, a rabbi who foretold of his “golden hands”, and discussions with his therapist who allegedly delved into the subconscious of his genius. Expert witnesses (Bob Geldof, Dennis Hopper, etc.) are brought forward to attest to his greatness, which single-handedly revolutionised the linear confines of architecture, or so Pollack would have us believe.

To its credit, Sketches inadvertently captures the bumbling character of Gehry and, with certain irony, reveals him to be a rather humble and unassuming star. Scenes in the office portray the gradual and collaborative process of design, no doubt familiar to all architects great or small.

Indeed, his interest in the spaces in and around the building contrasts with the common criticism that Gehry’s structures are oversized sculptures which are difficult to inhabit. And the point that good architecture requires good clients again keeps his grandeur in check. But as one exuberant folly leads to another, and millionaire patrons and museums expect ever more expressive buildings for their buck, the film shies away from the idea that Gehry is as much a commercial designer label as he is an artist.

Put plainly, the orthodoxy of the film is one-sided in its argument for Gehry’s greatness. The lone naysayer is an art critic with a worryingly effeminate accent, painted in darkness with a stone backdrop reminiscent of Blofeld’s lair.

In concentrating on the man, however, the film misses the opportunity to discuss the work and its implications: what does chain link-fencing say about the paranoia of the wealthy? How have attempts to replicate the ‘Bilbao effect’ left many post-industrial towns littered with white elephants in the name of regeneration?

Admittedly such questions aren’t as exciting as trying to present the architect as celebrity. But in missing these opportunities for a fuller discussion, Sketches lacks the clout of Nathaniel Kahn’s recent My Architect, which told a better story by intertwining different personalities and their journey of architectural experience.