In 1983, the Formica Corporation commissioned Frank Gehry to utilize ColorCore, a type of plastic laminate, in one of his projects. After accidentally breaking off a shard of the material, the Pritzker Prize–winning architect was inspired by its scale-like appearance and began affixing fragments to wire armatures he molded into piscine forms. Thus birthed his Fish Lamps—internally illuminated outsize sculptures in dynamic, twisting poses, as if swimming through water—that are on view at his latest solo exhibition, along with an immersive installation that renders the Mad Hatter’s tea party from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a group of ten large, surreal figures in brilliantly painted metal. 

Fish on Fire (2021) by Frank Gehry. Photography by Joshua White