Mindset Los Angeles

Los Angeles, late 1950s: The legendary Ferus Gallery laid the groundwork for a vibrant new avant-garde. A tightly knit network and a fertile environment for artistic experimentation took shape here, fueled by the Beat Generation’s rebellion against convention. Among its artists were key figures in postwar art, including Larry Bell, Wallace Berman, Craig Kauffman, Edward Kienholz, and Ed Ruscha—alongside the young architect Frank Gehry.

Gehry, who had described the connection between art and architecture as part of his DNA from his student days onward, joined this dynamic milieu known as the Cool School. Its openness to unconventional materials, its embrace of new technologies, and its exploration of surface, space, light, and perception were reflected in Gehry’s work as much as in that of his artistic peers. Beyond the Cool School, he was also drawn to developments in New York, including Minimal Art, Robert Rauschenberg’s assemblages, and his collaborations with Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. A lively exchange between art and architecture began to unfold.

With Mindset Los Angeles—Frank Gehry and the Cool School (June 27, 2026 –January 10, 2027), Marta Herford examines the early career of visionary architect Frank Gehry within the vibrant Los Angeles of the 1950s and 1960s. 

Developed in close collaboration with Gehry Partners and the Getty Research Institute, the exhibition presents Gehry’s early projects in dialogue with works by his contemporaries for the first time. 

Approximately 130 works from the American postwar avant-garde, along with examples from L.A.–based movements such as Light and Space, are shown alongside numerous sketches and architectural designs by Gehry. Together, they evoke the atmosphere of the period—marked by radical experimentation with everyday materials and a sustained engagement with spatial conditions and the effects of light.

As Gehry’s most recent architectural sculpture in Germany, Marta Herford stands as a testament to his artistic thinking. With its organic forms, tilted and curving walls, brick cladding, undulating stainless-steel roof, and wooden paneling, the building directly echoes the exhibition’s central themes.

Extending the narrative into the present, the exhibition Mindset Los Angeles – Works from the Schürmann Collection (June 27 – November 8, 2026), opening concurrently, features The Great See Battles of Wilhelm Schürmann (1994 –1995) by Jason Rhoades, along with works by artists whose practices resonate with Gehry’s approach and the early Los Angeles art scene.

Artists 
John Altoon, Carl Andre, Edgar Arceneaux, John Baldessari, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Wallace Berman, John Chamberlain, Judy Chicago, Meg Cranston / John Baldessari, Ronald Davis, Sean Duffy, Sam Durant, Frank Gehry, Richard Hawkins, David Hockney, Robert Irwin, Donald Judd, Craig Kauffman, Corita Kent, Edward Kienholz, Ed Moses, Claes Oldenburg /  Coosje van Bruggen, Ken Price, Robert Rauschenberg, Deborah Remington, Jason Rhoades, Aura Rosenberg, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, Pae White                                                                                

Sponsored by
Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

In partnership with
Gehry Partners / Getty, Los Angeles / Gaby and Wilhelm Schürmann, Herzogenrath