As Above, So Below: Art as Political and Cosmological Space documents Lita Albuquerque’s and Mitchell De Jarnett’s 2003 Sacramento public artwork Golden State. Despite being the largest public art commission in California state government history, this 1.5-acre project has received no fanfare and little publicity.

The project is the centerpiece of the recently completed Capitol Area East End Complex—a $392 million mixed-use project to consolidate the offices of more than 6,000 employees. Golden State had the misfortune of being completed just as Governor Gray Davis was in the midst of a recall battle hinged upon his handling of the budget. It is reported that the cost of the complex will ultimately be recouped but, understandably, much of the planned publicity for the project was reconsidered.

Through video, photographs and a large-scale model of a section called “The Zone of Transformation,” viewers can experience what Howard Fox, curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, calls “…one of the most ambitiously conceived and deftly realized works of public art in recent years.”
A 60-page, full-color catalogue is available for sale.