Silverstein Properties recently unveiled a striking new commission by legendary architect and artist Frank Gehry. Untitled (Fish on Fire, Greenwich Street) now looms over the lobby of 3 World Trade Center. At a massive 20 feet by 7 feet, the arresting yet still whimsical copper installation is the largest suspended fish sculpture Gehry has created in his prolific six-decade career.
One of the most influential architects of the 20th Century, Gehry was one of the first to fully embrace the possibilities unlocked by advancements in computer technology and design software. His pioneering sculptural approach to architecture defied conventional engineering constraints, and his elaborate drawings became bold, acrobatic structures that push beyond traditional form: the Guggenheim Bilbao, Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture and many, many others.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Gehry is an artist—architecture being an offshoot of that. (In a 1980 issue of Contemporary Architects, he said, “I approach each building as a sculptural object, a spatial container, a space with light and air, a response to context and appropriateness of feeling and spirit.”) Untitled (Fish on Fire, Greenwich Street) is the culmination of Gehry’s decades-long exploration of the fish motif that has been central to his artistic practice for forty years.
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For Gehry, the fish embodies sculptural movement in its purest form. The organic, flowing contours of aquatic life have long influenced the sweeping curves and dynamic energy of his most famous buildings, shaping their unmistakable sense of motion.
Suspended from the lobby’s ceiling, the sculpture radiates a warm, coppery glow, and as it slowly rotates, it casts shifting patterns of illumination and shadow, transforming the space with its movement. Its gentle swaying, dictated by the ambient air, invites visitors to pause for a moment of observation and contemplation.
“I am delighted to host Frank Gehry’s iconic fish sculpture—one of his largest—inside the 3 World Trade Center lobby,” said Larry A. Silverstein, Chairman of Silverstein Properties, in a statement. “This collaboration is the latest in our company-wide commitment to public space art and creative thinking throughout our buildings.”
Silverstein Properties’ dedication to public art dates back to 1987 and the original Seven World Trade Center, which featured works by renowned artists including Al Held, Roy Lichtenstein, Ross Bleckner and Louise Nevelson. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, that commitment became even more integral to the site’s rebuilding, with art incorporated from the earliest stages of the design process across the complex. A currently unleased floor of 7 World Trade Center has facsimiles of some of the pieces that the Silversteins purchased or commissioned and then lost, along with a timeline of the post-9/11 rebuilding process as told through the work of the artists Silverstein invited in to document it.
Today, an entire floor of 4 World Trade Center also serves as an incubator for artists through Silver Arts Projects—a program that provides a free, year-long residency with studio space, mentorship and professional development resources for selected creatives. Meanwhile, public art continues to punctuate the landscape of the World Trade Center campus—from Jenny Holzer’s illuminated text installation For 7 World Trade at 7 WTC to Frank Stella’s Jasper’s Split Star in the Silverstein Family Park. James Rosenquist’s monumental Joystick at 3 WTC and Kozo Nishino’s Sky Memory at 4 WTC further enrich the always-evolving cultural and commercial hub.
