Gehry’s globes hanging around after all

The Frank Gehry-designed spheres that hung beneath the Hollywood Bowl shell until it was dismantled last year are getting another turn. A group of Los Angeles-based artists, including Ed Moses, Kenny Scharf and (yes) Tony Curtis, were given pieces of the acoustical balls to decorate, and the recycled bits of the landmark will be on display at Track 16 in Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station until Friday.

A $25-million renovation replaced the deteriorating 1929 Hollywood Bowl shell with a much larger steel-frame structure and replaced the balls with an “acoustic canopy” suspended over the stage like a giant halo.

“There was a possibility they were just going to get trashed,” Paris Chong, who curated the exhibition at Track 16, said of the spheres. “People were shocked because they’re memorabilia.”

Now they’re also for sale.

Prices range from $400 to $65,000, with 10% of the proceeds earmarked to benefit Heart of Los Angeles Youth and 20% for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.

“They come in all shapes and sizes,” Chong said, adding that one artist made a functioning harp out of a half-sphere, another a Mickey Mouse head.

“The artists were given free rein, as long as they kept the spirit of the Hollywood Bowl alive,” she said.

-- Louise Roug