AUSTIN, TX.- Frank Gehry & Robert Tannen: Art, Architecture & IdeasFrank Gehry & Robert Tannen: Art, Architecture & Ideas presents a richly illustrated and deeply personal account of the lifelong friendship, artistic exploration, and professional dialogue between two seminal figures in contemporary architecture and design: Frank Gehry and Robert Tannen.
Published by Artvoices Books, the volume combines essays, personal reflections, archival materials, and a wide range of visual work — from architectural models and sculptures to paintings, printmaking and urban planning projects — underscoring how the dialogue between art and architecture has animated both practitioners’ work.
At the heart of the book is the remarkable collaboration between Gehry, internationally recognized for redefining contemporary architecture with iconic structures such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Tannen, whose multifaceted career spans conceptual art, urban design, community planning, and sculpture.
This book celebrates not just buildings or artworks, but the dynamic intersection of ideas and friendship that shaped decades of creative thinking. Through candid essays and visual narratives, the book offers readers an intimate view of how these two thinkers influenced each other’s approach to space, material, and community.
Key Features:
• Essays and personal notes by Gehry and Tannen that illuminate their shared creative journey.
• A broad survey of work across multiple media reflecting each practitioner’s evolving interests.
• Rich visuals that capture built projects, conceptual explorations, and collaborative experiments.
• Insight into the philosophies behind two remarkable practices that intersect art, architecture, and urbanism.
Frank Gehry (born February 28, 1929; died December 5, 2025) was a renowned Canadian-American architect known for his deconstructivist, sculptural designs using unconventional materials like titanium and chain-link fencing. Key works include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and his own Santa Monica residence. A 1954 USC graduate, he revolutionized 20th-century architecture and won the Pritzker Prize.
Robert Tannen (b. 1937) is an American artist, architect, and urban planner. He is a co-founder of the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans and a visiting professor of urban design at the Tulane School of Architecture. Over a 60-year career, Tannen has worked as an artist, planner, and community advocate, shaping economic and urban development across the lower Mississippi Valley and the Gulf Coast. His work has contributed to more than $3 billion in public and private projects. In New Orleans, he led the identification and planning of the city’s more than 70 historic neighborhoods and played a central role in the creation of the Historic Districts Landmark Commission.
