The Bilbao Experience 2

Photos by Robin Hill (c)

I once heard Sting say that he will never forget the first time he heard his own song 'Roxanne' on the radio...and that it was an experience unlike any other. I can't say I felt the same way the first time one of my photos was shown in a gallery, but this time here at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, I did feel connected to my work and there was a sense of professional pride at seeing my photos projected on the walls of the museum at a nice size of about six feet by four feet. The show feels completely different here in Spain....the spatial arrangement of the galleries are not continuous and one has to visit several different rooms to see the whole show, whereas in New York, one could simply traverse down the ramp, pop into the adjunct galleries, come out again and continue the descent...a purely joyful experience. Here at Gehry's Gugg...the ceiling's are really high...too high...creating an acoustical conundrum and spatial handicap...but the show does bring together the wide range of Wright's work and presents it in such a way that one is drawn into Wright's world.

The Bilbao Experience

October 22nd 2009...Bilbao, Spain. Frank Gehry's masterpiece is a profoundly unnerving experience that I'm still trying to process....there's no doubt its absolutely brilliant and is a work of Genius, but like many works of Genius...its got its issues...and not being given to sycophancy there are a couple of things that drive me crazy...but I'll get to those later. Firstly its clearly apparent to me that the Architect seriously 'Let go' of any previous notions in Architecture with both this building and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is its spiritual sister. It is without doubt a paradigm shifter...there's Architecture before the Guggenheim Bilbao and there's everything after...Gehry is clutching onto soaring ladders, making a leap into the infinite and risking everything...and the result is breathtaking and heart rending and full of delight. The photo above was made a few hours ago...the light had been shifting all day and by the time dusk came around the clouds rolled in supplying the photo with a dramatic ceiling and giving movemet to the building which was already in full flow. Dynamite! In fact 'dynamic' is the one word I would choose above all others to describe this building, this sculpture, this poem of structure, this delicious concoction of outer planetary imagination. Strange that I could also use those words to describe the other Frank's masterpiece, the Guggenheim in New York, but the feeling there is completely different....The Guggenheim in New York has a deeply mystical transcendant quality to it... a reflection of the Architect's philosophy...the Guggenheim in Bilbao feels sensual almost in a sexual way, like an explosive orgasm that's ripe and fecund and life affirming...can't say if that particular quality is a reflection of Gehry's philosophy, but there is this enormous feeling of just letting go of all previous thought...the details such as the processional steps being exactly the wrong distance apart for graceful descent and ascent can be brushed aside by the sheer magic of the place...its totally self referential...but in a really good way...and having said that...even though the building brings a lot of attention to itself...it still knits in well with the rest of the urban environment...the curvature of the River Nevion is repeated in the curvature of the front of the building and the Puente de la Salve Bridge serves as a serious backbone to the whole composition without distracting the Architecture. Processional steps to the north and south serve to connect the rest of the streetscape to the museum and one can see in the 'Bilbao effect' in full force in the surrounding area, which has and still is enjoying an urban renaissance. This aspect of the building really sold me, because I was not expecting a self referential building to blend in with the rest of the urban drama.

University of Miami School of Architecture show: Frank lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College

The University of Miami School of Architecture hosted my show of Frank Lloyd Wright's Florida Southern College and runs through October 11th. This is the second stop for this particular show, the first being at Charles Cowles Gallery in New York over the summer and other photos from the series being included in the vast Frank Lloyd Wright: From within outward show both at the Guggenheim in New York and upcoming on October 22nd, the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

The Gallery and adjacent lecture hall were designed by Architect Leon Krier and make for a very functional dual purpose facility. The lecture hall next door was a delight to give a lecture in and it was great to have the exhibition reception immediately after in the gallery. The photos are 30 X 40 and were sponsored by the world monuments fund who placed Florida Southern College on their 2008 watch list. The show asks the question...if we lose our cultural heritage, where do we find our bearings? Preserving fine Architecture from the past enables us to clearly see where we have been and points the direction forward. Wright's philosophy of Organic Architecture has never been so prescient as it is now and his fusion of Nature and Architecture are powerful forces that can shape the world to come in a very positive and healthy environmental direction.