Analyzing The Architectural Expressions of Post-Minimalism in Frank O. Gehry's Projects

International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering Innovation
e-ISSN: 2682-8499 | Vol. 4, No. 4, 1-16, 2022

http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijarei
Analyzing the Architectural Expressions of Post-Minimalism in

Frank O. Gehry’s Projects
Chuloh Jung1*, Nahla Al Qassimi1, Mohammed Sherzad1
1
Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Art and Design, Ajman University,
United Arab Emirates
*Corresponding Author: c.jung@ajman.ac.ae
Accepted: 15 November 2022 | Published: 1 December 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55057/ijarei.2022.4.4.1
___________________________________________________________________________
Abstract: Since postmodernism, instead of a specific idea or style dominating, various
architects' diverse languages lead the world's architecture. One of the architects receiving
much attention despite such diversity is Frank O. Gehry. The multidisciplinary nature of
Gehry's morphological language is manifested from various angles, including the introduction
of the digital technology used in aircraft technology to architecture and deriving new forms.
This paper explores how late minimalist sculpture's formative characteristics and attributes
were projected into Gehry's architecture. Post-minimalism was examined as a methodology,
including its thought and constructive properties. His working period was divided into four
periods based on Frank Gehry's architectural characteristics and the change in the elements.
The result showed that before the birth of post-minimalism, the first period of Gehry's
architecture already showed similar properties to post-minimalism, indicating that Gehry's
architecture and post-minimalism sculpture were starting from the same line. The second
period of Gehry's architecture shared a lot of formative attributes like post-minimalism. It is
presumed that this was the period when post-minimalism was born and flourished, and Gehry
was directly influenced by it. Later, the post-minimalistic attribute seemed to disappear
somewhat in the 3rd period of Gehry's architecture, but it developed into a new aspect in the
4th period. It was proven that Frank Gehry reflects the attributes of post-minimalism that
pursued a semi-form and formed his unique formative language by fusing these sculptural
attributes with his architectural vocabulary.
Keywords: Frank O. Gehry, Post-Minimalism, Sculptural Form, Tectonics, Anti-Form

__________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
As the postmodern era has passed and the end of the last century and the beginning of the
century, many architects have attracted attention with various styles (Abroon, 2021; Urban,
2020; Amiri, 2016). No single thought such as modernism, which led the world enough to be
called International Style, is not found, nor is the domination of architects called master
architects (Cohen, 2013). Since postmodernism, instead of a specific idea or style dominating,
various architects' diverse voices and languages lead the world's architecture (CBC, 2015;
Forbes, 2015).
Frank Gehry has recently been attracting the attention of many people: the architect group, and
the public, primarily because of his unique design language, mainly because design language
is multidisciplinary (Gehry, 2013; Lee & Lee, 2011). Although architecture is an academic
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field that combines beauty and practicality, there were not many architects who attempted an
interdisciplinary approach (Mitrache, 2012).
The multidisciplinary nature of Gehry's morphological language is manifested from various

angles (Martin, 2011). A new chapter in digital architecture has been opened recently by
introducing digital technology in aircraft technology to architecture and deriving new forms
(Ping & Lu, 2013; Westfall, 2011). However, the multidisciplinary approach and attitude
formed from the beginning of his work made his recent achievements possible (Steele, 2012).
He conducted exchanges with other fields earlier and more actively than any other architect,
and in particular, his unique multidisciplinary work appears in the interactions between fine art
and architecture (Picon, 2010). Frank Gehry said he interacts with and receives inspiration from
fine artists, especially contemporary artists (Pauker, 2013). However, although it is widely
known that Gehry is an architect who crossed architecture and art and had many exchanges
with his contemporaries, it isn’t easy to find a study on how his influence of Gehry remains
concretely in practice (Ouroussoff, 2010).
Therefore, in this study, based on such a point, in the 1970s, when Gehry's work began to attract
attention in the architectural world, the formative characteristics and attributes of late
minimalist sculpture were projected into Gehry's architecture, and what I would like to see if
there is. Rather than simply discussing the one-way influence of sculpture on architecture, it
discusses how the attributes of contemporary other genres were projected into Gehry's
architecture, which was always open to other worlds outside of architecture (Jung et al., 2021).
This examines how culture is reflected in architecture (Johnson, 2013).
2. Literature Review
2.1. Birth of Post-Minimalism

In a word, the United States in the 1960s, the background of the era in which post-minimalism
was born, was a period of chaos and turbulence (Iwamoto, 2013). In particular, ideologically,
due to the rise of post-structuralism, this dichotomous thinking base was broken, and the
boundary between life and art was broken down (Joye, 2011). The boundary between genres
and elite art and popular art collapses in art (Karaca, 2021). Until the early and mid-1960s,
American sculpture, that is, American sculpture before such a turbulent influence, was the era
of minimalism represented by grids and lattice patterns (Hoteit, 2015).
Figure 1: Untitled by Donald Judd (1968)
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It appeared in common across two-dimensional paintings and three-dimensional sculptures

(Zipf, 2019). Whether flat or three-dimensional, the most significant characteristic of this
minimalism is the repetition of the same elements in the perfect balance of European formalism
in the previous period (Theodore, 2014). It was about wanting to get out. Donald Judd (Figure
1) (Samdanis & Lee, 2017). However, around 1967, a trend distinct from such minimalism
began to appear (Patterson, 2012). It can be called a series. This intends to minimize the gap
between the work and reality, that is, illusion, by reducing the authoritativeness and adaptation
to a minimum when drawing a picture or performing a three-dimensional work (Ockman,
2011). A large iron plate, or a piece of wood, which reveals the material’s material properties,
is presented as a complete art world (Mohamed, 2014).
Such a new movement is called post-Minimalism (Katz, 2018). It started in earnest with the
publication of Robert Morris's Anti-Form soon after; the Anti-Form exhibition planned by
Morris was held in December 1968 (Junaidy & Nagai, 2017). He pointed out that although the
repetition of a single form of the previous minimalism succeeded in removing the European-
style artificial balance or composition, he overlooked the physical characteristics of the
material, and the production process of the work should be emphasized, such as stacking,
hanging, and loosely stacking (Dimendberg, 2021). It was argued that predetermined
morphologies could be avoided by giving the material the resulting morphology and allowing
chance and non-determinism (Corona, 2011). Art historian Karl Ruhrberg said, “Sculpture is
no longer standing or sitting still and leaning, protruding, bending, or taut, which can be liquid
or solid.” The concept of Anti-Form is, in a word, that it aims for a form that is naturally formed
as a result of the experimental process of material properties while respecting physical
properties out of a pre-determined format (Charitonidou, 2021).
2.2. Post-minimalism Artists and Their Characteristics

Many sculptors in the 1960s expressed the philosophy and formative properties of post-
minimalism. In this study, five representative artists were selected and investigated.
2.2.1. Richard Serra

Born in 1939, Sarah is a representative post-minimalistic artist and has exerted the most
significant influence in the American sculpture world for over 30 years since the 1960s (Balboa
& Scaroni, 2017). The characteristics of his work are as follows when considering examples
of his works.
In 1967, he first made a name for himself in the art world when he presented 'Bridles,’ an
experimental work in which a rubber plate he accidentally gave along the way was hung on a
wall (Harris, 2013). As a direct opposition to the strict regularity and repeatability of minimal
art in the mid-1960s, it caused a great sensation as a message to mark the end of the minimal
art era and the arrival of the post-minimalism era (Hartoonian, 2002). Also, he said, “The
importance of a work lies in its intention, not in its result or effect,” implying the negation of
the synthetic form by emphasizing the work process fundamentally in post-minimalistic art
(Kauffman, 2012).
Shortly after that, in 1968, he presented a series of 'Splashing' works, which were exhibited by
sprinkling lead in the gaps between the walls and floors of the art museum, hardening it, and
then taking it out to display (Figure 2) (Kessler et al., 2013). The work was formed due to the
actions (throwing, flowing, cooling, hardening) (Lee et al., 2013). In this work, the form does
not exist fundamentally. It is merely the result of materiality and action. This form can never
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be predicted or artificially designed. This is just a composite result of the plastic properties of
the material ‘lead’ and the action of ‘to splash (Goldberger, 2015).’
Figure 2: Splashing by Richard Serra (1968)
In this way, his interest in ‘process’ is emphasized again in the three-minute film Hands
Catching Lead,’ produced in 1969 (Giegold, 2021). Through this work, which consists only of
the continuous repetition of Sera's action to catch the falling metal pieces, Sera realizes the
concept of the half-form of Morris mentioned above as follows (Garcia Alvarado & Jofre
Muñoz, 2012). First, fundamentally deterministic physical forms are excluded due to the nature
of his work based on videotapes (Galenson, 2008). In other words, as in a play or a movie, the
job disappears when the tape is stopped and turned off (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Hands Catching Lead by Richard Serra (1969)
If the 'spray' work started from the state of melted liquid lead to revealing the results of the
action applied to the raw material properties, the pieces using the Corten iron plate, which were
paralleled at the same time, started with the physical properties of the 'plate.’ is kept from the
actions applied to the board were limited to one or two (Fujita, 2019). Thus, the physical
properties were relatively emphasized by keeping a distance from the synthetic or artificial
form (Figure 4) (Waldrep, 2012).
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Figure 4: St. John's Rotary Arc by Richard Serra (1980)
2.2.2. Robert Morris

Morris, who first advocated the concept of Anti-Form, which can be said to be the
representative concept of post-minimalism, began to attract attention (Vitale, 2010). In 1963,
he received a notarized statement of the 'Aesthetic withdrawal statement' and announced 'all
aesthetic attributes' in his sculptures (Okwudili, 2016). It was from taking a gesture to remove
'and content.’ The message against the fact that the existing elite art pursued only the
metaphysical concept of beauty was to foresee the chaos of the late 1960s that would soon
follow (Lin, 2013).
In his 'Notes on Sculpture, Morris sees that a work of art is greatly affected by the situation in
which it is placed rather than having meaning in itself and that this ‘situation’ is concrete and
directly related to the work (Bottazzi, 2018). It emphasizes that it acts on the viewer's
perception, and even the viewer's body is included in this 'situation (Bridge, 2015).’ In this
way, ‘presence’ is defined as the experience of post-minimal sculpture that requires time to
recognize the actual value of the work (Fixsen, 2014). In particular, the felt series, produced in
the form of a series since 1967, shows how the same material is perceived differently by its
force, the situation in which it is placed, and the applied force (Figure 5) (Caetano & Leitão,
2020).
Figure 5: Untitled by Robert Morris (1968)
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2.2.3. Carl Andre

Karl André is an artist who shared and combined the attributes of minimalism and post-
minimalism. Combining the formality of minimalism with traditional forms and the physical
properties of raw materials, his works, like Serana Morris, take a geometric and neutral state
of repetition instead of an applied force (verb) to show off their physical properties (Celani,
2012).
Through works in which aluminum and zinc plates of a square module are spread out in a
square shape or in positions in which logs are cut and trimmed into a rectangular parallelepiped
and stacked, André conveys the physical properties more intensely than the original form of
the material (Figure 6) (Charalambides, 2019). In particular, the repetition of the module
implies the social meaning that physical properties can also be produced in large quantities
(Filler, 2007). In addition to the above materials, Andre similarly delivered physical properties
to materials such as lead, copper, and magnesium (Peters & Olabode, 2018).
Figure 6: Timber Pieces by Carl Andre (1964)
2.2.4. Ulrich Ruckriem

As mentioned above, Andre significantly influenced the work of Ruckriem, who was trained
as a stonemason (Lee, 2018). After meeting Andre, Ruckriem worked to reveal the material’s
inherent nature (Hanson & Herz, 2011). First, he repeatedly placed stones in a very concise
shape, as Andre did, and then this time, he used various powers like Sera (Gilbert-Rolfe &
Gehry, 2002). The method was taken (). In other words, he tried to reveal the inherent physical
properties of stones through non-active actions such as drilling, breaking, sawing and splitting
holes ().
The laid stones reveal all the processes that Ruckriem has done, and as a result, the work is laid
out, and the audience can read past events that have taken place through it (Figure 7) (Foster,
2013).
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Figure 7: Anröchte Dolomite by Ulrich Ruckriem (1988)
3. Methodology
In this study, various artists of post-minimalism and all the works of Gehry were the study
subjects. In the case of post-minimalism, since most artists crossed different genres based on
sculpture, not only sculpture works but also video works were included. In Gehry's case,
architectural works, furniture design, and object design were included in the analysis. In
addition, they were used for work notes or interviews that could most directly reveal their
thoughts.
Although the temporal range of the analysis target was not limited, in the case of post-
minimalism, the period from the end of the 1960s to the 1970s was the primary study period
considering the time of its birth and extinction. In Gehry's case, the 1960s to the present made
it time.
As for the study method’s thought and formative properties were grasped by examining post-
minimalism. Gehry's work period was divided into four periods based on the general
examination of the characteristics of Gehry's architecture and the change in the elements.
Gehry's works were analyzed for each period, focusing on how the post-minimalistic attributes
were reflected, and a diachronic analysis was conducted on how those attributes appeared and
disappeared or developed over time.
4. Analysis
4.1. Frank Gehry's Architectural Characteristics and Period Classification

Gehry's architecture is famous for its unique form and improvisational style (Gehry et al.,
2020). From the beginning, Gehry worked by combining various materials on an improvised
basis, without improvised sketches or sketches, instead of the flatwork done by existing
architects. Recently, my work mainly uses digital technology for shape creation, but it is also
paralleled with three-dimensional sculptural work through a rough model rather than a planar
sketch. Therefore, it can be said that Gehry's sculptural work method of juxtaposing various
materials has continued (Fixsen, 2014).
Gehry's work has been going on for over half a century based on such a work method. This
classification serves as a basis for analyzing post-minimalism properties by period.
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First, the period from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s was the period when Gehry returned
from Europe to establish his own design office and become independent. . In the mid-1950s,
Gehry's architecture, which began in earnest right after he visited Paris, feeling inflamed from
the modernism education at the Harvard Graduate School of Architecture, starts by first
deviating from European modernism and exploring the actual American architectural language.
Although he did not leave many works during this period, it can be said that it was when
Gehry's architecture broke the norms and frameworks sprouted (Fischer, 2012).
Second, the characteristic of Gehry's architectural language from the late 1960s to the 1980s is
the juxtaposition and combination of different materials, which can give a glimpse into the
exploration of the fundamental properties of materials. The late 1960s was a time when the
chaotic society and culture of the United States at the time were projected into art. post-
minimalism art criticized the formalism of the previous minimalism and advocated the concept
of ‘anti-form.’ Gehry observed this trend of post-minimalism and said, "It looked more direct
and adventurous than most of his contemporary architecture." In particular, "His sculptures are
primitive, powerful, emotional, and menacing about...". Gehry's work during this period
reflected the attributes of later minimalist work, which Gehry would later say "... Similar.” He
recalled his interest in the juxtaposition of materials at the time.18) This influence of post-
minimalism continued to appear as it was absorbed and transformed into Gehry’s architectural
vocabulary.
Second, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Gehry mainly focused on the problem of form
before the advent of digital architecture. Suppose the previous period was a period focused on
investigating material properties. In that case, this period can be a period of inquiry into the
condition brought about by the juxtaposition of such materials. In particular, in the early 1980s,
Gehry conducted active exchanges and collaborations with the pop artist Oldenburg. The deal
with Oldenburg significantly influenced the transition from studying material properties to
studying forms. In addition, Gehry's work and thoughts began to have a close relationship with
the city around his exchange with him in Oldenburg. It was expressed metaphorically and
reflected in the form.
Finally, in the mid-1990s, Gehry again marked a milestone in the history of architecture,
introducing digital technology. Of course, the connection of computers with architecture was
made with the introduction of CAAD early, but it was only at the level to facilitate the recording
of designs. However, in Gehry's case, CATIA, which was used in aircraft design, was applied
from the stage of creating the structure itself, the form. In this way, Gehry created unique
shapes that were almost impossible to do manually. The change process of Gehry's work
considered above is summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: The Changing Process of Frank Gehry's Work

Period Characteristics in General Chronological Characteristics
Year
1st Period: Late 1950s - Mid 1960s Efforts to deviate while inheriting the Start exploring your language while
language of European modernism setting up your own office
2nd Period: Late 1960s - 1980s Exploring the fundamental properties Attention to post-minimalism artists
of materials
3rd Period: Late 1970s-1990s Exploring the symbolic form of urban Exchange and collaboration with
culture Oldenburg
4th Period: Since the mid-1990s Pursuing a unique shape that is Introduction of digital technology
impossible by hand
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4.2. Analysis focusing on Post-Minimalistic Attributes
4.2.1. 1st Period (the Late 1950s - Mid 1960s)

It is challenging to connect Gehry with post-minimalism since this period was before post-
minimalist activities came to the surface. However, it is clear that both Gehry and the sculptors
attempted to break away from European formalist modernism, that is, artificial composition
during this period, which has the significance of the 'same starting point.’
Although not many materials remain, the representative works of Gehry during this period
include Steve House and Danziger Studio. In the case of Steve's house, designed and
manufactured in 1959, the 'overlapping' method, a typical technique of European modernism
construction, still appears, showing that it is inheriting European modernism. It already shows
a start similar to the representative attribute of post-minimalism in that it emphasizes the
physical properties by highlighting the cement mass without finishing treatment. In particular,
this work has similarities with Karl Andre and Ruckriem in that it emphasizes the physical
properties of simple geometric shapes (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Left: Dolomite by Ruckriem (1972), Right: Danziger Studio by Gehry (1964)
4.2.2. 2nd Period (the Late 1960s - 1980s)

As mentioned earlier, this period was a period in which the activities of post-minimalistic
sculptors were prominent. It can be said that Gehry also formed his formative language by
completely breaking away from the norms of modernism. In this process, Gehry's architecture
strongly reflects the attributes of contemporary post-minimalistic sculpture.
In particular, Gehry's 'Easy Edge’ was produced in 1969. The activities of late minimalist
sculptors, including Sera, rose to the surface and have a strong connection with Sera in the
following points. First, it is true in that it maximizes the physical properties by using a single
material. Sera has always used a single material and no processing or finishing treatment to
optimize the transmission of physical properties, and Gehry's chair also conveys the same
message. In addition, this chair is not a joint of complex elements like the existing chairs - such
as the back or legs - but is the result of creating an 'act' of 'bending' to a single material, that is,
by adding a kind of 'transitive verb.’ It can be said that this is consistent with the recognition
of works as 'transitive verbs and their results, as shown in the 'verb list' of Sarah's work notes
presented earlier (Figure 9).
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Figure 9: Left: Easy Edge by Gehry (1969), Right: St. John’s Rotary Arc by Serra (1980)
In another corrugated cardboard chair, 'Experimental Edges,’ produced ten years later, more
experimental work was performed than the previous 'Easy Edge.’ It is a work that can be seen
as a sculptor rather than an architect in that it is a work made by improvisation.
In addition, compared to the work ten years ago, rough physical properties are emphasized
above all else. There is a need. Gehry obtained unexpected wild properties by 'accidental effect'
by exposing and laminating the cross-section instead of the corrugated cardboard surface. This
respect again shows the sharing of work methods and properties with post-minimalism. In other
words, the fact that he pursued unpredictable and accidental effects in his work, and through
this, the revealing and emphasizing of the latent physical properties of materials are the main
characteristics of contemporary post-minimalism sculptures. For example, Sera maximized the
physical properties of a single material in her 1968 ‘Splashing’ work. As mentioned in the
previous two chapters, this work is merely an accidental result of combining lead’s ‘plastic’
properties and the act of 'sprinkling.’
Gehry's 'experimental edge' is also emphasized by revealing the cross-section and laminating
the rough properties of corrugated cardboard that could not be predicted. As such, expectations
for the potential properties of materials are representative properties of late minimalist works,
including Serra, and are strongly reflected in Gehry's early works (Figure 10).
Figure 10: Left: Experimental Edge by Gehry (1979), Right: Splashing by Serra (1969)
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4.2.3. 3rd Period (the Late 1970s-1990s)

Compared to Gehry's second period, where the attributes of late minimalism were strongly
projected, if we look at his works from the late 1970s to the end of the 1980s, which is the third
period, a significant change can be seen during this period. In other words, Gehry's interest
shifts from emphasizing materiality and process, which are representative properties of late
minimalism, to the issue of form. This is presumed to be due to the influence of exchanges with
the pop artist Oldenburg. Instead of taking a semi-shape instead of a shape in the previous
period, the work method that emphasized rough properties and processes, rather than the work
method that emphasized wild properties and functions, suppressed the physical properties and
highlighted the shape with a finish such as paint. It seems to have shifted in that direction.
However, although the works of this period seem to have abandoned the representative
properties of post-minimalism in that their physical properties are weakened, and the process
is not exposed, they show another property instead, which is the construction method post-
minimalism. Post-minimalist sculptures deny the organic combination of the mass of modernist
sculpture and ‘coexist’ the elements without cohesion. Gehry has already rejected the group’s
intrusion, the general construction method of the previous generation of modernists, from his
first 'Danziger Studio' and took the technique of independent mass instead. It developed as a
metaphor for the individuality and contingency of culture. Among the late minimalist artists,
Sera's work also shows contingency and improvisation rather than the 'necessity' of modeling.
The independence of each element was emphasized while inducing. Although the construction
method is not perfectly applied to architecture in reality, the structural instability,
interrelatedness between components, and contingency are shown in Gehry's Winston Guest
House (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Left: Untitled by Serra (1978), Right: Winston Guest House by Gehry (1983-1987)
4.2.4. 4th Period (since the mid-1990s)

Gehry's interest in material properties, which had been extinguished by focusing on form rather
than material properties in the previous three periods, is revived in the fourth period, in the
period of digital works. However, it can be said that we have now reached the stage of
expressing the latent physical properties through a new design rather than revealing the
material’s fundamental properties through random effects like the previous works of late
minimalism. For example, at the former Guggenheim Museum, Gehry exposed the potential
properties of titanium by using it in a new way, like the scales of a fish, as the color core in
'Fish and Snake Lamp' in 1983. In the same vein, we developed the potential of materials by
using them in new ways. As such, the investigation of material properties has now transcended
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the projection of post-minimalism properties and has been sublimated into Gehry's own
language (Figure 12).
Figure 12: Left: Fish & Snake Lamp by Gehry (1983), Right: Guggenheim Museum by Gehry (1998)
Lastly, what cannot be overlooked even in this fourth period, that is, the period when digital
technology is actively introduced, is that Gehry still maintains the improvised and sculptural
method pursued from the beginning of the work in the production of the study model. The
method of improvision combining various materials rather than drawings has been further
developed compared to the early days. There is a big difference in the introduced materials,
such as moving away from the rough materials used in the early days and using soft and flowing
fabrics and curved glass. In addition, this is becoming a reality through combination with
advanced digital technology, forming a unique language of Gehry.
As discussed above, the individual attributes of post-minimalistic art appear in Gehry's

architecture by period and are summarized in Table 2 below.
Table 2
Attributes of Post-minimalism Time and Aspects in Gehry's Works
1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period 4th Period
Method Emphasis on physical properties ○ ○ ○
of exploring through the use of a single material
Tectonics Emphasis on physical properties ○ ○
through material-property collision
Process Works as ‘transitive verbs and their ○ ○
Emphasis results
Exposure to the process and the ○ ○
pursuit of chance effects
Construction Figurative building ○ ○
Method
Synthesis It appears to Projection of It seems to be Progress
be a starting post- moving away beyond post-
line similar to minimalistic from the minimalism
post- attributes influence of
minimalism appears from post-
multiple minimalism
angles
5. Conclusion
This study shows that the formative properties of the late minimalist sculptures of the 1960s
are projected in various ways in Frank Gehry's architecture, which has been developed with
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many constructive changes over about 60 years. This can be summarized and analyzed as
follows.
First, before the birth of post-minimalism, the first period of Gehry's architecture already
showed similar properties to post-minimalism, indicating that Gehry's architecture and post-
minimalism sculpture were starting from the same line.
Second, the second period of Gehry's architecture shared a lot of formative attributes similar
to post-minimalism. It is presumed that this was the period when post-minimalism was born
and flourished, and Gehry was directly influenced by it.
Third, the post-minimalistic attribute seemed to disappear somewhat in the third period of
Gehry's architecture, but it developed into a new aspect in the fourth period. For example, the
pursuit of works as 'transitive verbs and their results' disappeared in the third period but
developed into 'intransitive history and that moment in the fourth period.
Fourth, it can be seen that Gehry reflects the attributes of post-minimalism that pursued a semi-
form and formed his unique formative language through the fusion of these sculptural attributes
with his architectural vocabulary.
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Analyzing The Architectural Expressions of Post-Minimalism in Frank O. Gehry's Projects

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International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering Innovation

e-ISSN: 2682-8499 | Vol. 4, No. 4, 1-16, 2022

Analyzing the Architectural Expressions of Post-Minimalism in

*Corresponding Author: c.jung@ajman.ac.ae

Accepted: 15 November 2022 | Published: 1 December 2022

Keywords: Frank O. Gehry, Post-Minimalism, Sculptural Form, Tectonics, Anti-Form

The multidisciplinary nature of Gehry's morphological language is manifested from various

2.1. Birth of Post-Minimalism

Figure 1: Untitled by Donald Judd (1968)

It appeared in common across two-dimensional paintings and three-dimensional sculptures

2.2. Post-minimalism Artists and Their Characteristics

2.2.1. Richard Serra

Figure 2: Splashing by Richard Serra (1968)

Figure 3. Hands Catching Lead by Richard Serra (1969)

Figure 4: St. John's Rotary Arc by Richard Serra (1980)

2.2.2. Robert Morris

Figure 5: Untitled by Robert Morris (1968)

2.2.3. Carl Andre

Figure 6: Timber Pieces by Carl Andre (1964)

2.2.4. Ulrich Ruckriem

Figure 7: Anröchte Dolomite by Ulrich Ruckriem (1988)

4.1. Frank Gehry's Architectural Characteristics and Period Classification

Table 1: The Changing Process of Frank Gehry's Work

4.2. Analysis focusing on Post-Minimalistic Attributes

4.2.1. 1st Period (the Late 1950s - Mid 1960s)

4.2.2. 2nd Period (the Late 1960s - 1980s)

4.2.3. 3rd Period (the Late 1970s-1990s)

4.2.4. 4th Period (since the mid-1990s)

As discussed above, the individual attributes of post-minimalistic art appear in Gehry's

Technology| Architecture+ Design, 2(2), 261-264.

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